Draft:Daniel Druhora

Biography
Daniel Druhora (born June 3, 1982) is a Romanian-American filmmaker and educator. Notable for his work in documentary filmmaking, Druhora has directed and produced several acclaimed films including Lives Not Grades (2021), Cloudwalkers (2024), and Flowing Forward (2024), as well as his upcoming narrative feature Elie’s Overcoat.

Early Life
Born in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, during the last years of Communism, Druhora and his family immigrated to the United States following the 1989 Revolution, settling initially in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and later in Phoenix, Arizona. His father, Ovidiu Druhora, is a minister and theology professor, and his mother, Ana Druhora, was an orphanage director.

Education
Druhora graduated with a B.A. from the University of Washington in 2007, where he studied social sciences, international relations, and comparative literature. Originally intending to pursue a career in diplomacy, he chose to pursue filmmaking instead under the guidance of his mentor, screenwriter Stewart Stern who wrote the 1955 movie Rebel Without a Cause starring James Dean. He earned his M.F.A. in Film and Television Production from the USC School of Cinematic Arts in 2014.

Film Career
Druhora began his career in the film industry interning at Warner Brothers for producer Dan Lin, contributing to projects like Gangster Squad (2013) and The Lego Movie (2014). His directorial works include Lives Not Grades (2021), which follows a team of college students working to find solutions to the global refugee crisis. The film won an Emmy Award for Best Independent Programming at the 74th Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards. He co-founded the U.K.-based Safe Passage Films in 2019, through which he produced “Long Distance Swimmer – Sara Mardini (2023)”, a film that premiered at various international film festivals including Hot Docs in Toronto and Sheffield DocFest. In 2023 he directed and produced “Cloudwalkers: ISI And The Inventors of The Future” about the early days of the internet and the emergence of the age of A.I. In 2024, he began directing and producing Flowing Forward, a series about the challenges and innovations in urban water management, and a follow-up to Lives Not Grades focusing on innovations in Ukraine. His feature directorial debut, Elie’s Overcoat, will tell the story of Holocaust survival and heroism in his native Transylvania.

Teaching
In 2018, Druhora co-founded a course at USC titled “Innovation in Engineering and Design for Global Challenges,” popularly known as the Lives Not Grades course, which prepares students to develop solutions for global crises. He also teaches the art of storytelling at USC and contributes to university publications.