Yance Ford is an Oscar-nominated director and producer based in New York City. His debut film Strong Island was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 90th Academy Awards where Ford made history as the first openly transgender director nominated for the Oscar. Strong Island premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival winning a U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Storytelling. Strong Island launched globally on Netflix in September 2017. Yance recently became a Sundance Institute Art of Non-Fiction grantee for an untitled non-fiction currently in development.