Yance Ford will screen his film Strong Island on Sunday, Sept. 24, at 2 p.m., in Bradford Auditorium, Kirner-Johnson Building, at Hamilton College, to lead off the fall F.I.L.M. series. The screening is free and open to the public.
In 1992, Ford was a sophomore at Hamilton College when her brother William was murdered. By graduation, Ford was determined to make a film about William’s death; 25 years later, Strong Island is that film. The title is slang for Long Island, where Ford grew up.
Strong Island won a Special Jury Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival; and Ford, the Emerging Artist Award at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. This is Ford’s first visit to campus since 1997.
Beginning in 2002 Ford worked as a series producer for POV, television’s longest running showcase for independent documentary and in that role contributed to the emergence of many films. Ford, who has transitioned to male, released Strong Island this past season: it is a visually distinctive, emotionally intimate contribution to the genre of personal documentary.
