Daniel Mora

Film Production

Before the briefs, there were scripts.

Visual Effects

Festival-selected short films, VFX supervision, editorial precision, and post-production problem solving.

Writing and Directing

Short films

Films I wrote, directed, and produced in Costa Rica and Atlanta.

2017 · Costa Rica

The Happiness Machine

“A depressed inventor quits his job to fulfill his lifelong dream: building a machine that helps people find what makes them happy.”

I wrote, directed, and produced this film on a $1,500 budget. We shot in San José with actors from Costa Rica's theater and film community. Sinart Channel aired it nationwide in 2020. The project had been with me for more than 4 years; I wrote the screenplay 7 years before I got the chance to make it.

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2018 · Short film

A Trip to Remember

A college teen stays in for his first pot brownie adventure. After eating too many, he has to face his greatest fears to survive the night.

I wrote, shot, produced, directed, and edited this short with Isaac Boruchowicz, who also stars. We had one bedroom set and less than 4 hours to shoot after a scheduling change.

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Documentaries

Research and documentary projects made at Emory University.

2020 · Emory University

A New Coke

The story of Roberto Goizueta's career as CEO of The Coca-Cola Company from 1981 to 1997, and the impact of the New Coke launch.

I co-wrote and co-directed the documentary with Isaac Boruchowicz for an independent study in Emory's Film and Media Studies department, supervised by director Rob Schmidt Barracano. We made it over 8 months, from November 2019 through May 2020, editing by phone and text during the COVID-19 lockdown.

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2020 · Emory University

Disney Company · Purpose Film

Made during a semester long Emory Ideation class with Professor Joey Reiman. Our team studied Disney's corporate purpose and developed the idea “the fairytale is true.”

The film presents the idea that real life can hold the wonder of a fairytale, and that companies can help protect that sense of possibility. The class drew on Professor Reiman's claim that companies with a clear purpose can be more than 1,000% more successful than companies without one.

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Awards

Kiki McCabe and Agnes Nixon Screenwriting Award

2018

Won for the screenplay Tightrope from Emory University's Creative Writing department. The award was presented by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Dr. Jericho Brown.

The published credits page also described the department as ranked #1 in the U.S. at the time.

Warner Bros. Aspiring Content Creators Fellowship

Researched Gen Z streaming behavior and worked with executives from HBO, Cartoon Network, and Turner Classic Movies.