Director Biography

Abel Ferrara, one of the most important American independent filmmakers, was born in 1951 in New York. He became best-known for his low-budget, cult movies, characterized by the explicit representation of violence that presents the most dangerous areas of contemporary city and the darkest aspects of human nature. In 1979, Ferrara released his most notorious film, Driller Killer, for which he starred, edited, and wrote the songs under the pseudonym Jimmie Laine. Until the late ’80s Ferrara continued making low-budget shockers such as Ms. 45 (1981), Fear City (1984), as well as episodes of two television series - Crime Story and Miami Vice. Following his television work, Ferrara directed several feature films: China Girl (1987), action thriller The Gladiator (1987) and Cat Chaser (1989). Furthermore, Ferrara created his well-known films, King of New York (1990) and Bad Lieutenant (1992) which won him wider critical acclaim. Switching to mainstream, Ferrara made two Hollywood studio films: Body Snatchers (1993) for Warner Bros and Dangerous Game (1993) for MGM. In the mid-1990s, Ferrara returned to independent filmmaking, directing two well-received movies: The Addiction (1995) won an award at the Berlin Film Festival and The Funeral (1996), prize-winning at Cannes Film Festival. In 1998 Ferrara made New Rose Hotel, film adaptation of the novel by cyberpunk legend William Gibson. Among his recent movies are Mary (2005) and Go Go Tales (2007) and docudrama called Napoli Napoli Napoli (2009). Movie 4:44 - Last Day on Earth, Ferrara's version of the end of the world, is shot at one location, a New York apartment, during the course of the last 24 hours before the Biblical apocalypse.