Abel Ferrara

Abel Ferrara is an American filmmaker, actor and musician, born in the Bronx, whose provocative crime films, often set in New York, drew a cult following from his second feature, The Driller Killer (1979), in which he played the killer himself. Ms .45 (1981) followed, and he went on to make King of New York (1990) and Bad Lieutenant (1992), which brought Independent Spirit Award nominations in the Best Director and Best Actor categories. His training came at the San Francisco Art Institute, where Rosa von Praunheim was among his teachers. Later films include Body Snatchers (1993), New Rose Hotel (1998), Mary (2005), which won the Grand Jury Prize at Venice, Go Go Tales (2007), Pasolini (2014) and Padre Pio (2022). Six of his films have competed for the Golden Lion at Venice, and he has twice been nominated for the Golden Bear. Ferrara has worked mainly in Europe since 2001.