Abel Ferrara Talks Forthcoming Docs On Patti Smith And Ukraine War & Why He Loves Making Films In Europe – Taormina Studio

Abel Ferrara is currently working on two very different documentaries – one on legendary singer-songwriter-poet Patti Smith and another on the war in Ukraine – and the director touched down at Deadline’s studio in Taormina to reveal a bit more about each project. 

Speaking about the Smith documentary, Ferrara said, “She’s doing an interesting show and if anyone saw her in Paris, you know. We’re friends we’re just approaching it as friends. I’m a big admirer of her and the more I shoot her and the more I’m watching in the editing room the more my admiration for her is just like, ‘Whoa’.”

He added that Smith was making some original poetry for the upcoming doc. 

As for his Ukraine doc, which is currently in the works, he reflected how different the subject matter was. “We went to Ukraine. It was horrific. When you’re watching war, it’s a war and it’s like the opposite of everything that Patti is doing. She’s the opposite of death – she’s life. And war is like, people killing other people and people trying to defend their children, their home. It’s brutal.” 

The Bad Lieutenant and Pasolini director, who has lived in Rome for more than 20 years, was being celebrated in a retrospective of his films at Taormina this week as well as participating in a masterclass and an upcoming talk about his long collaboration and friendship with Willem Dafoe. 

Not one to mince his words, Ferrara told Deadline why he loves making films in Europe as opposed to working in the U.S. 

“Creatively as a filmmaker, I’ve had it with the States,” he said. “I’m not going to fight. I’m a director and a director has a certain gig in the making of movies, which is he’s the last word on film. A lot of people work on it, a lot of ideas, it’s a community deal. You know, it’s a communal effort but at the end of the day the director is it and if he’s not working in total liberation and total as the last call, you’re not making a movie bro. You’re kidding yourself.” 

He added, “In Europe that’s a law, it’s not just a cultural deal. It’s a law. No one can touch my film here. In America, it’s a free for all and I’m tired of fighting for my director cut and my creative control.”

Check out the video above.