Abel Ferrara Slams IFC For Demanding Recut Of New Movie 'Welcome To New York'

(Photo : Getty Images - Ian Gavan) Abel Ferrara at the 'Pasolini' premiere during the 71st Venice Film Festival on September 4, 2014 in Venice, Italy.

Abel Ferrara thinks that the guys at IFC are a bunch of "punks."

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Ferrara is furious that IFC Films, which bought distribution rights to the director's "Welcome to New York" at last year's Cannes Film Festival, refuses to release the film (described by THR as "soft-core porn") until Ferrara edits it down to an R-rating.

"Welcome to New York is not being distributed in the U.S. because of this company, IFC, which I'm totally disgusted with," Ferrara told THR at the Venice Film Festival, where his new movie, Pasolini, premiered Thursday. "They knew from day one when they bought this film that they had the final version and that it wasn't going to be changed."

Ferrera considers IFC's betrayal emblematic of the growing creative sterility of the indie film industry. "I've f-ing had it with this corporate assault on the artists and the freedom of the artist, period. It's like a war against movies," he griped. "Because 90 percent of the marketplace is owned by five guys masquerading as corporations. They're vultures and they're vampires, and they're trying to suck the blood out of the life of the filmmaking community."

The 63-year-old director then encouraged his fellow filmmakers to join him in spitting on the IFC. "And as for my brother and sister filmmakers, don't roll over to these punks," Ferrera said. "And don't let Arianna Bocco and (Sundance Selects/IFC Films president) Jonathan Sehring and the other thousand just like them come on as big friends of the independent film community. They don't give a shit about movies or the people that make them."

Sehring had this to say about the debacle: "We have been fans of Abel Ferrara for years and think he is an incredible filmmaker," Sehring said. "We supported his work on this particular film over several years in the production process and plan to release this riveting film early next year for U.S. audiences."