Refocus: The Films of Abel Ferrara - (Refocus: The American Directors) by Florian Zappe (Hardcover)

About the Book

A collection of critical essays on Abel Ferrara, one of America's most unorthodox and distinctive film directors.

Book Synopsis

Over his four-decade long career, Abel Ferrara has built himself a reputation as one of the most audacious and unconventional filmmakers in contemporary cinema. After his beginnings in the exploitation circuit of the late 1970s he become one of the central figures in the indie wave of the 1980s and 90s and is now an established arthouse director whose versatile oeuvre crosses the boundaries of cult, independent and Hollywood cinema.

ReFocus: The Films of Abel Ferrara offers a comprehensive critical survey of the director's work. The volume brings together a broad range of methodological, theoretical, historical and philosophical perspectives on Ferrara's work, and case studies include Ms 45, The Driller Killer, Bad Lieutenant, Pasolini and Welcome to New York.

Review Quotes

It's about time for Abel Ferrara to have received the 'ReFocus' treatment. Under the assured editorship of Florian Zappe, a diverse group of established and emerging scholars have done a brilliant job in scrutinising Ferrara's extensive filmography from a multitude of perspectives and making a strong argument about why he is one of the most important and interesting US filmmakers of the past 50 years!-- "Yannis Tzioumakis, author of American Independent Cinema (2017)"

From his pervasive engagement with a signature set of themes and tropes to the multifaceted nature of his own enigmatic public persona, this essential collection dives deep into the strangely captivating cinematic worlds of Abel Ferrara, one of the most complex and consistently fascinating filmmakers of the past half century.-- "Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, author 1000 Women in Horror (2020) and Ms. 45 (2017)"