| Strong Island | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Yance Ford |
| Produced by | Joslyn Barnes Yance Ford |
| Cinematography | Alan Jacobsen |
| Edited by | Janus Billeskov Jansen |
| Music by | Hildur Guðnadóttir |
Production companies | Yanceville Films Louverture Films |
| Distributed by | Netflix |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 107 minutes |
Strong Island is an American 2017 true-crime documentary film directed by Yance Ford.
The film centers on the April 1992 murder of Ford's brother William, a 24-year-old African-American teacher in New York, who was shot and killed by Mark P. Reilly, a 19-year-old white chop shop mechanic. [2] [3] An all-white grand jury in Suffolk County declined to indict his killer, who claimed self-defense. [4]
The film premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. [5] Worldwide rights were acquired by Netflix. [6] It received a Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Documentary in 2017 [7] and was nominated for the 2018 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. [8] It was also nominated for an Emmy in Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking that year. [9]
It received generally positive reviews from critics. [10] [11] Inkoo Kang of TheWrap said the film "is a demanding, wrenching watch; an important work." [12] Bilge Ebiri of The Village Voice said the film is "truly special, especially as it moves towards its final act... the film is unflinching in its portrayal of their devastation after the loss of their eldest son." [13]
Kirby Bryan Dick is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor best known for directing documentary films. He received Academy Award nominations for Best Documentary Feature for directing Twist of Faith (2005) and The Invisible War (2012). He has also received numerous awards from film festivals, including the Sundance Film Festival and Los Angeles Film Festival.
Jeffrey Leib Nettler Zimbalist is an American filmmaker. He has been Academy Award shortlisted, has won a Peabody, a DuPont, 5 Emmy Awards with 17 Emmy nominations. He is the owner of film and television production company All Rise Films.
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Elizabeth Freya Garbus is an American documentary film director and producer. Notable documentaries Garbus has made are The Farm: Angola, USA,Ghosts of Abu Ghraib,Bobby Fischer Against the World,Love, Marilyn,What Happened, Miss Simone?, and Becoming Cousteau. She is co-founder and co-director of the New York City-based documentary film production company Story Syndicate.
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Amy Ziering is an American film producer and director. Mostly known for her work in documentary films, she is a regular collaborator of director Kirby Dick; they co-directed 2002's Derrida and 2020's On the Record, with Ziering also producing several of Dick's films.
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Matthew Heineman is an American documentary filmmaker, director, and producer. His inspiration and fascination with American history led him to early success with the documentary film Cartel Land, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film, a BAFTA Award for Best Documentary, and won three Primetime Emmy Awards.
Eric Weinrib is a filmmaker and TV producer from Plainview, New York, United States.
Five Came Back is an American documentary based on the 2014 book Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War by journalist Mark Harris. It was released as a stand-alone documentary in New York and Los Angeles, and as a three-part series on Netflix, on March 31, 2017.
Ryan White is a documentary producer and director best known for his Netflix documentary film Pamela, a Love Story, Amazon Prime's Good Night Oppy, which won five Critics Choice Awards including Best Documentary and Best Director, and his Emmy-nominated Netflix series The Keepers. White's previous films include the HBO movie The Case Against 8, which won Sundance's Directing Award and was nominated for two Emmys, the documentary film Ask Dr. Ruth, and Coded, which was shortlisted for the Academy Award.
Yance Ford is an African-American transgender producer and director.
Believer is a 2018 American documentary that examines the intersection between LGBT people and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through the eyes of Dan Reynolds, lead singer of pop rock band Imagine Dragons. It focuses on his efforts to organize the LOVELOUD Festival in Orem, Utah in support of Utah LGBTQ youth.
Diane Hope Weyermann was an American film producer who was the chief content officer of Participant Media, a film and television production company.
Fork Films was an American film production and television production company founded in 2007, by Abigail Disney and Gini Reticker. The company primarily produced documentary films focusing on social issues, and select narrative films.
