Profiles: Laura Mora | Proimágenes Colombia

Laura Mora Ortega is a director of film, television serials, and advertising. Born in Medellín in 1981, she studied film direction and production at RMIT in Melbourne, Australia and completed a master's degree in script and directing at the Melbourne AFTRS center. She returned to Colombia in 2008.
 
During her time in Melbourne, she directed the short films West (winner of the Jury Special Mention at the RMIT Student Festival) and later Brotherhood (also winner of the same award, and the award for Best Actor). The latter was also selected for festivals such as Melbourne Latin American Film Festival and Women on Film in Canada and was named Best Fiction Short Film at the Bogotá Short Film Festival—BOGOSHORTS 2009, formerly the International In Vitro Visual Festival.

She has worked as assistant director on several short films and commercials in Australia and Colombia. Upon her return to Colombia, she worked as script supervisor on projects such as the television movie Operation Jaque by Silvia Quer, the feature film El cartel de los sapos by Carlos Moreno, and the short film Juego de niños by Jacques Toulemonde.
 
In 2011, she won the Colombian Film Fund (FDC) prize for short film production with the project Salomé, filmed that same year in Medellín. The short film has been selected for various festivals including ZINEBI in Bilbao, Spain; Miami Short Film Festival; and New York Latino Film Festival. She received the Best Actress award at BOGOSHORTS in 2012, the Best Short Film award at the Barichara Film Festival, and a Special Mention at the Santa Fe de Antioquia Film Festival, all in Colombia.
 
In 2012, she co-directed the television series Escobar, el patrón del mal for Caracol TV with Carlos Moreno. This project earned them awards for Best Direction and Best Series at the India Catalina Colombian Television Awards in 2013.
 
In 2013 and 2014, again with Moreno, she co-directed the mini-series No sos vos, soy yo, an adaptation of the Argentine film by the same name, a romantic comedy produced by Laberinto Cine y TV and distributed by Netflix.

She has directed commercials and web content for production companies including 64-A Films and Laberinto Cine y TV. Among those projects, the second and third season of the web series Entre panas for the Póker beer company are standouts.
 
In 2013, she was awarded the Colombian Film Fund (FDC) script development grant for her feature film Killing Jesus (Matar a Jesús). This project also earned her invitations to the Guanajuato Film Festival Project Incubator, the Huelva Film Festival, and most recently the Berlinale Co-production Market in 2015, out of over 700 projects from around the world.
 
In mid-2014, Mora directed the film Antes del fuego, Laberinto Cine y TV project that premiered on August 6, 2015. It is a political thriller about the days that preceded the coup on the Colombian Palace of Justice in 1985 and was part of the Official Selection at the Cartagena Film Festival (FICCI) in 2015.
 
She is the director of Killing Jesus (2017), a film shot in 2016 in real locations in Medellín with non-professional actors. The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and its European premiere at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. It has also traveled to festivals including the Cairo International Film Festival, the Chicago International Film Festival, and the Cartagena Film Festival.
 
Mora is currently writing her new project Los reyes del mundo, which was selected at Cinelatino Toulouse Encounters. She also recently founded the production company La Selva Cine with Daniela Abad.

Last updated: March 2018