Abel Ferrara Says 'Welcome To New York' Cut Without His Permission, Critical Rape Scene Changed

Last summer, I caught the original cut of Abel Ferrara's "Welcome To New York," a fictionalized take on the scandal surrounding former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn who was accused in 2011 of sexually assaulting a hotel worker In New York City. The director's film is a provocative piece of work, and a very, very good film, one I called "an unflinching portrait of a monster." Indeed, one of the film's crucial scenes comes from the assault, which makes it clear a crime was committed and doesn't shy away from the horrific nature of the act. But it would appear that that key sequence and others have been reshaped and edited for the U.S. release without Ferrara's permission. 

As I noted when the film's U.S trailer dropped, the running time for the movie had been trimmed from Ferrara's 125 minutes to 108 minutes, clearly indicating that the director's prior concerns that IFC Films were pressuring him to trim his movie were well founded. But...