Strong Island(2017)
dir. Yance Ford
A family tries to make a killing count.
Where to watch: Subscription: Netflix ($8.99/mo with ads, $19.99/mo standard); no free, library, rent or buy option listed (JustWatch US, checked 2026-09-28, re-check). Verify.Letterboxd ↗
In 1992, Yance Ford's brother William was shot and killed by a white mechanic in Long Island. No one was charged. A quarter of a century later, Ford turns the camera on the family, the case and the legal system that decided what counted as fear. The film is quiet, direct, and built from interviews with his mother, sister and the people who knew William.
Why it’s here
It's a film about a family told that its grief did not count. What's punk is how still it is: no reenactments, just faces and a legal system on the record. What's pedagogical is how it shows the machinery of a verdict, which turns out to be a story about who is allowed to be afraid. Pairs with Just Mercy, The New Jim Crow and Between the World and Me. Note: PG-13/R; discusses a killing and its aftermath; slow and personal; adults and mature teens. English.
Where This Film Lives
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