We are proud to announce Yance Ford’s Strong Island has received an Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking at the Emmys 2018 which was announced on the 9th of September in Los Angeles.
In 1992, filmmaker Yance Ford’s brother William was shot and killed by a 19-year-old white mechanic after a common complaint about a car repair spiraled violently out of control. The mechanic claimed he fired in self-defense, and though William was unarmed, he quickly became the prime suspect in his own death. When an all-white grand jury set the shooter free, Yance’s family retreated into a silent fury. Twenty years later, Strong Island invents a startling cinematic language to penetrate this devastating collision of paralysis, grief, fear, racism, and injustice.
Produced by Yanceville Films and Louverture Films, co-produced by Signe Byrge Sørensen for Final Cut for Real and edited by Janus Billeskov Jansen with assistance by Waltteri Vanhanen.