10: Welcome To New York (with Will Sloan)

On this week’s episode, Toronto-based writer and podcasting magnate Will Sloan returns to the pod to discuss Abel Ferrara’s 2014 film Welcome To New York, a dramatization of IMF chief (and presumptive future French President) Dominque Strauss-Kahn’s arrest in Manhattan in 2011 for the sexual assault of a hotel chambermaid, starring Gerard Depardieu as the thinly-disguised DSK figure. Not only was it Ferrara’s best film in years, but it was also very ahead of the curve, a drama centred around issues that would become central cultural themes in the second half of the decade: the #MeToo movement, the abuse of power and privilege, and the sexual predation of powerful political figures.  The film was released in Europe in Ferrara’s explicit version, but the American distributor imposed shocking and drastic cuts to the film for its US release, removing 17 minutes and altering the meaning of the film. Ferrara spoke out against the mutilation of his work and threatened to sue the distributor, and the noise over the creative interference blunted the film's impact stateside, in a stunning example of corporate censorship of an artist. Perhaps critics and audiences were not ready to listen to what Welcome To New York had to say in 2014 but it’s a fascinating film to consider now. Plus a discussion of the unpromising trailer for the upcoming Scorsese documentary for Netflix about Fran Leibowitz. The full 125-minute version of Welcome To New York is available on Apple TV (and through torrenting) - steer clear of the 109-minute American cut, the one most commonly available in North America. Happy New Year! Follow Will Sloan on Twitter. A very good interview with Abel Ferrara about the film, from when it screened during the Cannes Film Festival (out of competition), from Daniel Kasman for Mubi, June 2014