Born in NewYork in 1952,Abel Ferrara started his career as an independent film-maker with a group of fr iends. After the fir st commercial films and some American tv series, he focused on the violence in today's metropolitan areas, directing King of New York (1991) and The Bad Lieutenant (1992). His best works, however, are dark and lucid reflections on death such as The Addi ction (1995) and The Funeral (1996), whose screenplays were both written by Nicholas St. John. Finally he turns to minimalism in his latest films, which mark a new stage of his production: celebrity and show business in Blackout (1997), industrial espionage in New Rose Hotel, the family in (2001).
