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" Black lives are too easy to take in America because we don't want to question why people are so afraid of black and brown people to begin with. And that's what I want 'Strong Island' to do. "
Yance Ford
America
Strong
People
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" I will never understand how so many young women can go out in the freezing cold wearing so little clothing. "
Yance Ford
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Never
" 'Strong Island' is slang for Long Island, New York. And it really grew out of - what may surprise people, it really grew out of the very vibrant hip-hop scene that, you know, is located and still generates artists out of Long Island. "
Yance Ford
New York
Long
Surprise
" I have been gender-nonconforming my entire life. "
Yance Ford
Entire
Been
Life
" Everyone in the street where I grew up was given the same message: You can be anything; you can do anything. That wasn't extraordinary; that was ordinary for us. My folks didn't believe in black exceptionalism. There's nothing exceptional about 'You can have that, too' - except when it comes to justice. You can't have that. "
Yance Ford
Justice
You
Believe
" Violence against the other, and the way we otherize people out of fear, has to be examined across the board. "
Yance Ford
Fear
Against
People
" Instincts are a really important guide for any artist, but particularly filmmakers because it takes a lot to stay true to your instincts as a storyteller. "
Yance Ford
Stay True
Artist
True
" My impression is that the Academy is really sincere about moving toward a more inclusive and representative Hollywood. "
Yance Ford
More
Moving
Inclusive
" It would be easier for people to grasp that gender, sex, and sexual orientation are different things if we had as much imagination in real life as we do when we are making our movies. "
Yance Ford
Gender
Imagination
Life
" What 'Strong Island' does is bring a historical perspective and help people understand that what we're treating as a modern-day phenomenon is actually not modern. It's actually quite old. "
Yance Ford
Help
People
Old
" It would have been tough for anyone to adapt 'Push' - an amazing but wrenching novel by Sapphire - for the screen, and I think director Lee Daniels made interesting choices, particularly with Precious' fantasies. In my view, some of them work and some do not, but they are definitely provocative directorial choices. "
Yance Ford
Think
Work
Amazing
" The quality of festival Q&As is often a matter of chance. Sometimes the lights come up on movies I loved, and not a single meaningful question is asked. Sometimes it's the opposite. "
Yance Ford
Movies
Lights
Loved
" White people get to do that all of the time. They get to engage in bad behavior, even felonious behavior, but they rarely wind up in jail. But as a black person, losing your temper can cost you your life. Or insisting on your rights can cost you your life. "
Yance Ford
People
Black
Time
" I remind audiences that I'm in the fortunate position to make a film about my family. "
Yance Ford
Remind
Position
Make
" When I was young, I didn't see anyone who was trans like me anywhere in the movies. "
Yance Ford
Movies
See
Who
" I would hate for people to think that 'Strong Island' is just about a family's grief. It is about a family's grief, yes, but it is also an interrogation of our criminal justice system. "
Yance Ford
Hate
Grief
Family
" Most black families went from the South to the city. My family went from the South to the city to the suburbs because they wanted their children to have the realization of the suburban lifestyle. What does it mean that that doesn't actually protect you? "
Yance Ford
Children
City
Family
" There are people who get to be three-dimensional humans in the United States, and there are people who do not. "
Yance Ford
United
People
Get
" Grief is a very complicated monster. There's no real exorcising of it. It has a different form every day. "
Yance Ford
Every Day
Real
Complicated
" People come up and say, 'Thank you' for showing a black family loving their masculine-presenting child and for undoing the myth of black people as being rabidly homophobic. "
Yance Ford
Family
Child
Black
" I worked at 'POV' for five years before I told one person about my brother. "
Yance Ford
Brother
Five
Person
" If I can help one family embrace their child and not displace them and throw them out, I'm happy about that. "
Yance Ford
Help
I Can
Out
" 'Strong Island' has been a labor of love and dedication on the part of so many people, that it's just an incredible recognition to be honored. And to be the first trans director - and, I believe, the first African-American trans director - to be nominated for an Academy Award is incredibly, incredibly special to me. "
Yance Ford
Me
Strong
People
" I'm incredibly proud to be the first trans director to be nominated for an Oscar. "
Yance Ford
First
Be The First
Director
" I don't feel like a hero. "
Yance Ford
Like
Hero
Feel
" If my making history makes it easier for a trans kid at home somewhere to feel more at home in their skin, then I'm so excited about that. "
Yance Ford
History
Skin
More
" My brother's death picked up my life and put it down somewhere else. I had an image of myself in my mind as a working artist, and when he died, all of that changed. "
Yance Ford
Death
Myself
Mind
" The justice system isn't meant to work for people of color in this country. "
Yance Ford
Justice
Color
Country
" I don't think I present as gender-conforming on screen, but some people need a little extra information. "
Yance Ford
Information
Think
Present
" Being nominated is such a tremendous honor. An Oscar win for me and for the 'Strong Island' team would be the cap to an incredible journey. But it would also mean that my brother will not disappear from history. "
Yance Ford
Brother
Team
Strong
" There is nothing quite as exciting as watching a master at work. "
Yance Ford
Work
Master
Nothing