Ezra Lunel

Ezra Lunel is a narrative and documentary filmmaker. He has an artistic and literary background which draws on his wide range of experience and years of living abroad as a writer, poet, and artist. His principal influences are the magical realist novels of García Márquez, the films of Godard and Rohmer, the hyper-cinematic style of Pedro Almodóvar, the fractured modernism of Picasso and the works of Saul Bellow. An alumni of Chapman University's MFA Film Directing program, Ezra also graduated from UC Berkeley, where he obtained his BA degree in Interdisciplinary Studies. His graduate thesis film, "My American Muse" received the FotoKem Student Filmmaker Grant and was shot on 35mm film. His thesis advisor was the director Martha Coolidge. During his graduate studies, Ezra was selected to direct a short film in Taipei, in association with the Taiwan National University of the Arts. As an instructor at Chapman University's Summer Film Academy, Ezra worked with talented young filmmakers to produce a series of short films. Prior to his graduate studies, he was an adjunct lecturer in film production at the Centro de Artes Audiovisuales in Guadalajara, Mexico. While completing his studies at UC Berkeley, he wrote and directed his first short-feature film, "O-Negative," in Paris, France after studying for a semester at the American University there. Ezra's professional experience ranges from development to production to post production, having worked for companies like River Road Entertainment, Future Films USA, CNN International, and ESPN. He has also been a valued assistant director and second unit director on over a dozen films, including a Lifetime television movie, a feature, and several MFA thesis films. Born in Vallejo, California, Ezra grew up in Long Beach, California in a Sephardic Jewish family. He is widely traveled and speaks five languages. Based in Los Angeles Metro Area, he has been making films since 2004.