By Lucy Spicer
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival is having a front-row seat for the bright future of independent filmmaking. While we can learn a lot about the filmmakers from the 2024 Sundance Film Festival through the art that these storytellers share with us, there’s always more we can learn about them as people. This year, we decided to get to the bottom of those artistic wells with our ongoing series: Give Me the Backstory!
Yance Ford’s history with Sundance Institute goes back an impressive 15 years. “My first encounter with Sundance Institute was as a Creative Producing fellow in 2009,” recalls Ford. Since then, the filmmaker has been a creative advisor at multiple Sundance labs, a Sundance Institute | Warner Bros. Feature Film Directors Track fellow and a Momentum fellow, and a Festival Documentary Competition Juror. Ford also premiered the Institute-supported Strong Island at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Storytelling before going on to garner an Oscar and an Emmy nomination.
Ford is adding to that illustrious résumé with Power, which is screening in the Premieres category at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. This timely documentary chronicles the history of policing in the United States, examining how race, class, and privilege factor into who belongs to the social order, as well as the collective complicity in allowing positions of power to evade accountability. “I hope Power will move audiences to question the idea of ‘law and order,’” says Ford. “Who defines order? Are our laws are just?”
Below, discover why Ford was inspired to make the film, the challenges that the archival footage presented, and what he would be doing if he weren’t a filmmaker.
What was the biggest inspiration behind the film?
The inspiration for Power was the protests that followed George Floyd’s murder in 2020, as well as my own interaction with police and the criminal legal system.
Describe who you want this film to reach.
I want Power to reach anyone who has ever called the police and anyone who has ever had the police called on them. I want Power to reach people who are subject to police oversight and people who use police to ensure their personal safety. I want this film to reach police and move law enforcement officers to examine their relationship to the power they hold.
Why does this story need to be told now?
We must interrogate the power held by police and police departments in order to ensure that power is not abused.
How do you want people to feel after they see your film?
Surprised.
What was your favorite part of making the film? Memories from the process?
My favorite parts of making the film were shooting the interviews and working with the editor, Ian Olds. I have fond memories of scrolling through hours and hours of the most amazing archival footage and being excited by the possibilities the footage held for our creative process.
What was a big challenge you faced while making this film?
The biggest challenge was giving the archival footage new meaning by piecing the material together in different ways. We were able to animate the past and to use it as a proxy for the present moment. We also wanted to communicate the intimacy of policing, what it means to be subject to the force and power of the state on a human level.
Why is filmmaking important to you? Why is it important to the world?
Movies are a universal language, and making movies is a great privilege. Movies are important to the world because images convey as much, if not more, than language is able to communicate. I try to master the art of filmmaking so that I can speak with as many people as possible.
If you weren’t a filmmaker, what would you be doing?
I’d be casting sculpture at a foundry, welding and doing metal work, blowing glass, working with my hands.
What was the last book you read?
I have been jumping between The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen and a book of short stories titled The Consequences by Manuel Muñoz.
One thing people don’t know about me is _______.
I’m funny. Really.
Early bird or night owl?
Early bird
What’s your favorite film that has come from the Sundance Institute or Festival?
One film! Come on… A Thousand and One, Citizen Four, Winter’s Bone, Fruitvale Station…
