ReFocus: The Films of Abel Ferrara

Abel Ferrara has long stood apart as one of the most provocative and unorthodox voices in American cinema. Emerging from the exploitation film circuit of the late 1970s, he became a central figure in the independent film movement of the 1980s and 90s and has since established himself as a key auteur in contemporary arthouse cinema. His eclectic body of work defies easy categorisation, blending elements of cult, genre, Hollywood, and transnational filmmaking, and reflecting deep engagement with questions of morality, identity, and authorship. ReFocus: The Films of Abel Ferrara presents a comprehensive and timely collection of critical essays that explore Ferrara’s films through a wide array of scholarly lenses. The volume situates Ferrara’s oeuvre within broader debates in film studies, engaging with topics such as genre theory, narrative form, gender, philosophy, and the industrial and cultural frameworks that have shaped his work. Bringing together contributions that position Ferrara’s cinema within the wider contexts of American independent film, ‘indiewood’, Italian-American filmmaking, and transnational cinema, this collection offers new insights into both the thematic and formal complexity of his films. Case studies include Ms .45, The Driller Killer, Bad Lieutenant, Pasolini, and Welcome to New York.