Abel Ferrara

Directing

Abel Ferrara

Born

1951-07-19 (75)

Place of birth

The Bronx, New York, USA

Known for

Directing

Credits

88 titles

Abel Ferrara (Italian: [ferˈraːra]; born July 19, 1951) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for the provocative and often controversial content in his movies and his use and redefinition of neo-noir imagery. A long-time independent filmmaker, some of his best known movies include the New York-set, gritty crime thrillers The Driller Killer (1979), Ms .45 (1981), King of New York (1990), Bad Lieutenant (1992), and The Funeral (1996), chronicling violent crime in urban settings with spiritual overtones. Ferrara also worked in a wide array of genres, including the sci-fi remake Body Snatchers (1993), cyberpunk thriller New Rose Hotel (1998), the religious drama Mary (2005), the black com…

Known for

Film credits

2020s · 10 titles

Marty Supreme poster
7.4

Marty Mauser, a young man with a dream no one respects, goes to hell and back in pursuit of greatness.

Marty Supreme

2025

No artwork available
NR

A fringe therapist takes the world by storm with a galaxy-brained new approach to self-help called the Jackman Method. Through immersive sessions, he transforms wayward young men into semi-employable outsider artists—all from the comfort of his posh home office in New York City. When an unhinged ex-patient returns to his care and is chosen to headline the practice’s first ever cabaret night, the fallout is immense. Diva behavior, grueling rehearsals, and public scandal threaten to destroy not only the show but the Jackman Method itself.

Cabaret Boys

2026

Judas' Gospel poster
6.5

An innovative approach in retelling the tale of Judas Iscariot, known for his biblical betrayal of Jesus when he disclosed his whereabouts for 30 pieces of silver. About to die, Judas reflects on his life and his relationship with Jesus and the disciples.

Judas' Gospel

2025

Buon Lavoro poster
4.0

No synopsis available yet.

Buon Lavoro

2022

Soldato sotto la luna poster
1.0

No synopsis available yet.

Soldato sotto la luna

2022

Sportin' Life poster
4.2

Sportin’ Life is the sixth incarnation of the international art project Self, curated by Saint Laurent’s creative director, Anthony Vaccarello. This project is an artistic commentary on society while emphasizing the complexity of various individuals through the eyes of artists who evoke the Saint Laurent attitude of confidence, individuality and self-expression. The documentary is an exploration into the sources and personal history of creativity, the essential life of an artist. Raw and sharp, it has the feeling of a moment in time that is still happening. Abel Ferrara’s intimate and lush look at his own life, his world refracted through his art – music, filmmaking, his collaborators and inspirations such as Ferrara’s early works and his creative partnerships with Willem Dafoe, Joe Delia, Paul Hipp and the musicians who inspired this work.

Sportin' Life

2020

The Passion According to Béatrice poster
7.0

In September 2022, Beatrice Dalle arrives in Italy. At the origin of this journey is the desire to walk in the footsteps of Pier Paolo Pasolini.

The Passion According to Béatrice

2024

The Night Burns poster
7.0

Massimo and his 20-year-old friends live in the suburbs; they spend their days stuffing themselves with drugs. When darkness falls, they troll the discotheques like animals of prey, to rob people using pepper spray.

The Night Burns

2021

No artwork available
NR

This very special film features a carefully curated selection of some of the priceless messages that have graced Anthology’s voicemail system over the years. From the historically important to the utterly (and sublimely) absurd, they feature a cast of characters ranging from legendary avant-garde filmmakers, scholars, and other cultural figures to civilians whose legend has (until now) been confined to the offices of Anthology, thanks precisely to their witty, eloquent, eccentric – or in some cases unforgettably psychotic – voicemails. We’ve toyed with the idea of sharing these messages in some form for years, and the “Imageless Films” series provides a perfect pretext.

Please Leave a Message: Anthology Film Archives Voicemails Through the Ages

2022

Bleedings poster
NR

Abel Ferrara - director and actor known for his stories of redemption, Christian interrogation and inner turmoil - gives voice to the scourgers through Gabriele Tinti's poetry.

Bleedings

2021

2010s · 20 titles

Black Butterfly poster
6.2

Paul is a down-on-his-luck screenwriter who picks up a drifter and offers him a place to stay. However, when the deranged stranger takes Paul hostage and forces him to write, their unhinged relationship brings buried secrets to light.

Black Butterfly

2017

Daddy Longlegs poster
6.6

After months of living a solitary existence, Lenny, 34, picks up his kids from school. Every year he spends a couple of weeks with his sons Sage, 9, and Frey, 7. Lenny hosts his kids within a midtown studio apartment in New York. During these two weeks, he must figure out if he wants to act as their father or be their friend. Ultimately, their trip upstate results in complete lawlessness taking over their lives.

Daddy Longlegs

2010

Plankton Salesmen poster
NR

A nostalgic look at the birth and death of arthouse film distribution in Russia in the early 2000s. The story of the company Cinema Without Borders and its two founders, Sam Klebanov and Anton Mazurov.

Plankton Salesmen

2017

Don Peyote poster
3.8

An ordinary guy delves deep into counterculture, conspiracy theories and the like as he tries to discern the structure of society.

Don Peyote

2014

Don Peyote poster
3.8

An ordinary guy delves deep into counterculture, conspiracy theories and the like as he tries to discern the structure of society.

Don Peyote

2014

Ultima Chiamata poster
NR

A man wakes up in a strange place. Peeled walls, a bare, cold and damp room. He doesn't understand where he is. He has severe pain especially in the head, tries to open the door but it's locked, tries to call someone but nobody answers. He is a prisoner. A nightmare begins for him in which he will have to go through a path of understanding to finally get to understand what really happened.

Ultima Chiamata

2017

Piazza Vittorio poster
6.4

Vivid mosaic/portrait of Rome’s biggest public square, Piazza Vittorio, featuring talks with African musicians and restaurant workers, Chinese barkeeps and relocated eastern Europeans, homeless men and women, artists, actors, and many others.

Piazza Vittorio

2017

A Talent For Trouble poster
1.0

Set in the early 2000's when hip hop video's meant something. Sean Wellington, a neurotic music video director who was just given the opportunity of a lifetime to direct his first feature film. In the midst of this celebration, comes a tumultuous breakup with his girlfriend as his neurosis loom overhead while he tries to reorganize his personal and professional life. A Talent For Trouble is a story of Sean's battle to balance real-life romance while living through a camera lens.

A Talent For Trouble

2018

Sculpt poster
1.0

Sculpt depicts an international market organized around new shapes and experiences, all the more sought-after as they are almost unattainable. In this world, thought recording and fascination for the inner space are no longer fantasies but the object of a global market that thrives on a quest for these moments of pure intensity, beautiful experiences, thought, and obsession.

Sculpt

2016

Uncle Bob poster
4.3

Robert Oppel's documentary about the life and murder of his uncle and namesake, Robert Opel, the man who streaked the Academy Awards in 1974.

Uncle Bob

2010

Talking with the Vampires poster
5.0

Abel Ferrara directed this thirty-minute documentary that interviews the cast of his film THE ADDICTION.

Talking with the Vampires

2018

Balkan Spirit poster
6.6

Filmmaker Hermann Vaske explores the creative Balkan world in the hopes of understanding the meaning of "Balkan spirit".

Balkan Spirit

2013

Water and Sugar – Carlo Di Palma: The Colours of Life poster
5.2

An account of the life and work of legendary cinematographer and director Carlo Di Palma (1925-2004) and an emotional journey through the great moments of cinema, from Italian neorealism to the masterpieces of Woody Allen.

Water and Sugar – Carlo Di Palma: The Colours of Life

2017

Home Sweet Home poster
NR

A young woman wanders down an endless corridor, while other people knock at a door at night. A man takes a picture of Montmartre, two women hand him some money, while a patron manages from rue de Mhyra a network of Italian call girls. Adiba sings an ancient Moroccan song in a room full of children, while Vidya is performing her daily puja in Pune (India). Giuli sings to herself as she drives at night through Turin and runs to the station at day. Parallel stories where every character is caught “in a situation,” closed.

Home Sweet Home

2012

The App poster
3.0

Loving girlfriend, family fortune, breakout movie role: he's got it all. Until an app awakens a powerful new yearning. While in Rome to shoot his first movie, actor and industrial heir Niccolò becomes obsessed with the dating app "US" that sends him into a self-destructive spiral.

The App

2019

Alive in France poster
7.7

Abel Ferrara headlines a film retrospective and a series of concerts in France dedicated to songs and music from his films. Preparations with his family and friends will form the material of this self portrait, showing another side of the director of legendary films BAD LIEUTENANT, THE KING OF NEW YORK and THE ADDICTION. Ferrara is joined on stage by past collaborators, including composer Joe Delia, actor-singer Paul Hipp and his wife actress Cristina Chiriac for concerts at the Metronum in Toulouse and the Salo Club in Paris in October 2016.

Alive in France

2018

Mulberry St. poster
6.0

Born in the Bronx and raised in upstate New York, Abel Ferrara started his professional film career on Mulberry Street in 1975. For the past year he's been living on the block, and the feast of San Gennaro is the subject of his new film. While he has used this location for a few of his features, this time it's the star of the film.

Mulberry St.

2010

Abel Ferrara in Lucca poster
NR

A simple, modest and faithful record of some moments at the Lucca Film Festival in October 2010, with songs and speeches by Abel Ferrara: trace of the co-presence of two of the greatest contemporary filmmakers, dissident and true sons of Cesare Zavattini’s revolutionary spirit.

Abel Ferrara in Lucca

2012

The Projectionist poster
6.0

In his first New York City-set documentary in nearly a decade, filmmaker and provocateur Abel Ferrara uses the experience of one longtime cinema owner to chart the vast changes to the city’s theatrical landscape.

The Projectionist

2019

Wiara poster
NR

Six authorities of cinema describe their approach to transcendence, mysticism, spirituality and life after dead.

Wiara

2018

2000s · 6 titles

Chelsea on the Rocks poster
5.7

Chelsea on the Rocks celebrates the personalities and artistic voices that have emerged from New York’s legendary Chelsea Hotel. Once considered an untouchable, impenetrable tower for writers, artists, musicians and mavericks, it has been recently claimed as a boutique hotel venture for a management company that shows disregard for its formidable history. –Cannes Film Festival

Chelsea on the Rocks

2008

Nice to Meet You, Please Don't Love Me! poster
8.5

A documentary on Asia Argento, made during the making of "the Heart is Deceitful Above All Things." Cinema has always been a part of her life, so much so that she cannot separate her childhood souvenirs from her film career. With Abel Ferrara, Peter Fonda, Marilyn Manson, Rancid, John Robinson...

Nice to Meet You, Please Don't Love Me!

2004

Abel Ferrara: Not Guilty poster
8.0

Intimate portrait of Abel Ferrara: the result is an eccentric road movie, with the restless film maker as a charming, shabby guide around New York by night.

Abel Ferrara: Not Guilty

2003

Exes poster
4.6

Virginie, a very famous writer, is caught up in her past. A serial killer with inhuman cruelty, Exes, the hero of his first novel, wants to take revenge on her.

Exes

2006

Cannes: All Access poster
3.2

From its simple beginnings in 1939 in a sleepy beach town in the south of France, the prestigious Cannes Film Festival has become the must-attend red carpet event of the year. Filmmaker Richard Schickel's fascinating documentary captures the glitz and glamour of the festival's incredible 60-year run with archival footage and unforgettable moments. Hollywood's biggest names including Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese, Sharon Stone and Harvey Weinstein talk about the politics, madness, and thrills of competing for one of the industry's highest honors - the coveted Palme d'Or - and what it's like to be at the most fabulous festival by the sea.

Cannes: All Access

2007

Odyssey in Rome poster
7.0

Alex Grazioli follows bad-boy filmmaker Abel Ferrara as he spends three grueling years battling obstacles in Italy to direct "Mary," a modern-re imagining of the life of Mary Magdalene. Featuring candid interviews and on-set footage with Forest Whitaker, Heather Graham, Matthew Modine, and Juliette Binoche, "Odyssey," brings to bear an impressive tableau of Ferrara's colleagues as they discuss his unique approach to creating dynamic films.

Odyssey in Rome

2005

Undated · 5 titles

Series credits

Behind the camera

King of New York poster
6.8

A former drug lord returns from prison determined to wipe out all his competition and distribute the profits of his operations to New York's poor and lower classes in this stylish and ultra violent modern twist on Robin Hood.

King of New York

1990

Ms .45 poster
6.7

After being attacked and raped twice in one day, a timid, mute seamstress becomes a violent agent of revenge for wronged women.

Ms .45

1981

Bad Lieutenant poster
7.0

While investigating a young nun's rape, a corrupt New York City police detective, with a serious drug and gambling addiction, tries to change his ways and find forgiveness.

Bad Lieutenant

1992

Bad Lieutenant poster
7.0

While investigating a young nun's rape, a corrupt New York City police detective, with a serious drug and gambling addiction, tries to change his ways and find forgiveness.

Bad Lieutenant

1992

4:44 Last Day on Earth poster
4.8

A look at how a painter and a successful actor spend their last day together before the world comes to an end.

4:44 Last Day on Earth

2012

4:44 Last Day on Earth poster
4.8

A look at how a painter and a successful actor spend their last day together before the world comes to an end.

4:44 Last Day on Earth

2012

Body Snatchers poster
6.2

When Environmental Protection Agency inspector Steve Malone travels to a remote military base in order to check for toxic materials, he brings his family along for the ride. After arriving at the base, his teenage daughter Marti befriends Jean Platt, daughter of the base's commander, General Platt. When people at the base begin acting strangely, Marti becomes convinced that they are slowly being replaced by plant-like aliens.

Body Snatchers

1993

Siberia poster
4.9

Clint is a dead man who lives alone in a frozen tundra. However, this isolation cannot bring either evasion or peace. One night, he begins a journey where he must confront his dreams, memories, and visions, crossing the darkness into the light.

Siberia

2020

Siberia poster
4.9

Clint is a dead man who lives alone in a frozen tundra. However, this isolation cannot bring either evasion or peace. One night, he begins a journey where he must confront his dreams, memories, and visions, crossing the darkness into the light.

Siberia

2020

The Addiction poster
6.5

A vampiric doctoral student tries to follow the philosophy of a nocturnal comrade and control her thirst for blood.

The Addiction

1995

The Funeral poster
6.8

After the funeral of one of their own, a criminal family decides to embark on an emotionally unnerving journey in an attempt to exact bloody revenge.

The Funeral

1996

Zeros and Ones poster
4.7

Called to Rome to stop an imminent terrorist bombing, a soldier desperately seeks news of his imprisoned brother — a rebel with knowledge that could thwart the attack. Navigating the capital's darkened streets, he races to a series of ominous encounters to keep the Vatican from being blown to bits.

Zeros and Ones

2021

Zeros and Ones poster
4.7

Called to Rome to stop an imminent terrorist bombing, a soldier desperately seeks news of his imprisoned brother — a rebel with knowledge that could thwart the attack. Navigating the capital's darkened streets, he races to a series of ominous encounters to keep the Vatican from being blown to bits.

Zeros and Ones

2021

Fear City poster
5.4

Strippers in Manhattan are being stalked and murdered by a psycho. A hard-nosed police detective and a conflicted ex-boxer-turned-private-eye, hired by the strip club owners, set out to find him before he strikes again.

Fear City

1984

Welcome to New York poster
5.1

Mr. Devereaux is a powerful man. A man who handles billions of dollars every day. A man who controls the economic fate of nations. A man driven by a frenzied and unbridled sexual hunger. A man who dreamed of saving the world and who cannot save himself. A terrified man. A lost man.

Welcome to New York

2014

Welcome to New York poster
5.1

Mr. Devereaux is a powerful man. A man who handles billions of dollars every day. A man who controls the economic fate of nations. A man driven by a frenzied and unbridled sexual hunger. A man who dreamed of saving the world and who cannot save himself. A terrified man. A lost man.

Welcome to New York

2014

China Girl poster
6.0

Teenage lovers Tony and Tyan-Hwa tip the balance of power in New York's Little Italy and Chinatown.

China Girl

1987

Padre Pio poster
5.0

It is the end of World War I and the young Italian soldiers are making their way back to San Giovanni Rotondo, a land of poverty, with a tradition of violence and submission to the iron-clad rule of the church and its wealthy landowners. Families are desperate, the men are broken, albeit victorious. Padre Pio also arrives, at a remote Capuchin monastery, to begin his ministry, evoking an aura of charisma, saintliness and epic visions of Jesus, Mary and the Devil himself. The eve of the first free elections in Italy sets the stage for a massacre with a metaphorical dimension: an apocalyptic event that changes the course of history.

Padre Pio

2022

Padre Pio poster
5.0

It is the end of World War I and the young Italian soldiers are making their way back to San Giovanni Rotondo, a land of poverty, with a tradition of violence and submission to the iron-clad rule of the church and its wealthy landowners. Families are desperate, the men are broken, albeit victorious. Padre Pio also arrives, at a remote Capuchin monastery, to begin his ministry, evoking an aura of charisma, saintliness and epic visions of Jesus, Mary and the Devil himself. The eve of the first free elections in Italy sets the stage for a massacre with a metaphorical dimension: an apocalyptic event that changes the course of history.

Padre Pio

2022

The Blackout poster
5.8

A debauched Hollywood movie actor tries to piece together one wild night in Miami years earlier which remains a drug-induced blur, and soon finds out that some questions about his past are best left unanswered.

The Blackout

1997

The Blackout poster
5.8

A debauched Hollywood movie actor tries to piece together one wild night in Miami years earlier which remains a drug-induced blur, and soon finds out that some questions about his past are best left unanswered.

The Blackout

1997

Dangerous Game poster
5.7

A New York film director, working on his latest movie in Los Angeles, begins to reflect the actions in his movie and real life, especially when he begins an affair with the lead actress.

Dangerous Game

1993

Mary poster
5.8

The filming of a movie about Jesus’ death deeply affects three people — an egotistical director who cast himself as Christ, the actress playing Mary Magdalene who cannot bring herself to leave Bethlehem and a TV journalist whose spiritual doubts start to consume him.

Mary

2005

Cat Chaser poster
5.0

A Miami hotel owner finds danger when he becomes romantically involved with the wife of a deposed general from the Dominican Republic where he fought many years back.

Cat Chaser

1989

'R Xmas poster
6.2

A New York drug dealer is kidnapped, and his wife must try to come up with the money and drugs to free him from his abductors before Christmas.

'R Xmas

2001

'R Xmas poster
6.2

A New York drug dealer is kidnapped, and his wife must try to come up with the money and drugs to free him from his abductors before Christmas.

'R Xmas

2001

Go Go Tales poster
5.6

A financial struggle between owners of a go-go club threatens its future.

Go Go Tales

2008

Go Go Tales poster
5.6

A financial struggle between owners of a go-go club threatens its future.

Go Go Tales

2008

Pasolini poster
5.7

We are with Pasolini during the last hours of his life, as he talks with his beloved family and friends, writes, gives a brutally honest interview, shares a meal with Ninetto Davoli, and cruises for the roughest rough trade in his gun-metal gray Alfa Romeo. Over the course of the action, Pasolini’s life and his art are constantly refracted and intermingled to the point where they become one.

Pasolini

2014

New Rose Hotel poster
5.3

A corporate raider and his henchman use a chanteuse to lure a scientific genius away from his employer and family.

New Rose Hotel

1999

New Rose Hotel poster
5.3

A corporate raider and his henchman use a chanteuse to lure a scientific genius away from his employer and family.

New Rose Hotel

1999

The Driller Killer poster
5.1

An artist slowly goes insane while struggling to pay his bills, work on his paintings, and care for his two female roommates, which leads him taking to the streets of New York after dark and randomly killing derelicts with a power drill.

The Driller Killer

1979

Subway Stories poster
5.6

An anthology of 10 stories depicting real-life incidents of subway riders in New York City, which range from compassion and love to violence and loss.

Subway Stories

1997

Tommaso poster
5.7

The story of an American artist living in Rome with his young European wife Nikki and their 3-year-old daughter, Dee Dee.

Tommaso

2020

Tommaso poster
5.7

The story of an American artist living in Rome with his young European wife Nikki and their 3-year-old daughter, Dee Dee.

Tommaso

2020

42 One Dream Rush poster
6.0

An omnibus project bringing together acclaimed directors from around the world, each contributing a 42-second short inspired by a dream. Produced by 42 Below vodka, the collection blends surreal, poetic, and experimental visions into a mosaic of oneiric cinema.

42 One Dream Rush

2010

The Gladiator poster
5.6

A road warrior vigilante avenges his brother's death at the hands of a crazy motorist by using his souped-up pickup to apprehend drunken drivers and others who abuse their driving privileges.

The Gladiator

1986

White Boy poster
4.0

An Italian street hood gets romantically involved with a woman who is the ex-girlfriend of a leader of a white supremacist gang, after being being brutally attacked by the gang he seeks revenge via his street connections.

White Boy

2002

Chelsea on the Rocks poster
5.7

Chelsea on the Rocks celebrates the personalities and artistic voices that have emerged from New York’s legendary Chelsea Hotel. Once considered an untouchable, impenetrable tower for writers, artists, musicians and mavericks, it has been recently claimed as a boutique hotel venture for a management company that shows disregard for its formidable history. –Cannes Film Festival

Chelsea on the Rocks

2008

Chelsea on the Rocks poster
5.7

Chelsea on the Rocks celebrates the personalities and artistic voices that have emerged from New York’s legendary Chelsea Hotel. Once considered an untouchable, impenetrable tower for writers, artists, musicians and mavericks, it has been recently claimed as a boutique hotel venture for a management company that shows disregard for its formidable history. –Cannes Film Festival

Chelsea on the Rocks

2008