Ramzi Abed’s The Tunnel is the kind of independent short that you’ll either love or hate. Audiences who saw the film at its Park City debut at the Tromadance Film Festival were divided about the creative success of the suspense thriller. But everyone who met frenetic filmmaker Ramzi Abed pretty much came to the same conclusion — this was a passionate individual with an abundance of energy. Maybe too much energy. So much energy that at times, he could get a little annoying. Sometimes really annoying. What drove the high-strung Abed to filmmaking? “When I was younger, my dad was really into Peter Sellers movies and Abbott and Costello, and that affected me for sure.”
Comedic influences aside, Abed found solace in painting. “I’ve been drawing pictures since I was a little boy, and got into painting and collage in high school. I guess I had a lot of stuff percolating in my brain, and lots of crazy emotions as a teenager. Those feelings found their way into my paintings. It was people like Dali, Francis Bacon, and De Kooning that I started identifying with. I was so full of angst back then, that I would literally burn my fingers from the charcoal I used for my sketches. It was like an electrical force was building inside me.”
The Pitzer College graduate double majored in Film production and English and found his film influences from masters like David Lynch. “My high school buddy, Brian Cleveland, was making these sorta’ offensive videos back then, and I acted in them. He opened my eyes to films like ‘La Dolce Vita’ and ‘Eraserhead,’ which helped open the flood gates.”
Pretentious wannabe or cinematic genius? We’ve all met guys like Ramzi in film school, but does his film deliver the goods?
Get the interview in part two of RAMZI ABED DIGS HIMSELF IN DEEPER>>>
