María Laura Ruggiero is an Argentine filmmaker and narrative designer specialized in experiential storytelling. Her work has been featured in several international programs on emerging media, including Power to the Pixel, TransmediaNext, Forward Storytelling, FIPA, MIT Reality Hack, and MIT’s Worlding.

She is a professor (UBA) and international speaker on narrative innovation and virtual reality, having presented at MUTEK, SXSW, MIT, ONA, Berlinale, TEDx, VR Fest, Fundación Telefónica, Congreso Quirino de Animación, America’s Cultural Summit, and more.

She is a Berlinale Alumna and storytelling mentor for Berlinale Talent Campus Short Form Station, a member of Werner Herzog’s Rogue Film School, a NATPE Diversity Fellow, a Jihlava Emerging Producer, and a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts. She was awarded the Alice Down the Rabbit Hole Award from Digital Jove Spain in 2021.

Since 2020, she has worked as a Creative Specialist for the World Bank’s Virtual Reality Division. In 2023, she became a Storytelling Mentor and Jury Member for the MIT Reality Hack, the renowned Virtual Reality Hackathon at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2025, she continues her collaboration with MIT Reality Hack, hosting a session called “Crafting the In-Between: Storytelling for Mixed and Hybrid Realities,” further expanding her work in immersive storytelling and innovation.

Her project Wave 201: The Unwanted Atlantis became part of MIT’s Co-Creation Studio project: Worlding.

She is currently pursuing a PhD in Immersive Design (UBA-FADU), has completed the MITx Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality course with Fox Harrell, Ph.D., and is part of the XR Design Virtual Reality Fellowship.

In 2024, she developed and premiered a prototype of Aplysia, an immersive experience on the nature of dreams. The Library of All Possible Things, the film and immersive experience she is producing and co-writing, won the Industry Award at Raw Science Film Festival NYC and has been selected for IDFA Immersive Pitching. She also served as a jury member for IbermediaNext, evaluating 70 co-development animation projects, including short films, prototypes, pilots, and teasers. In October 2024, she traveled to the Czech Republic as a jury member for the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival (First Lights Program).

In 2025, She is currently developing Wave 201: The Unwanted Atlantis, The Library of All Possible Things, Aplysia, Dream Parkour, and Diamante.

María Laura leads StoryHackers Lab, a pop-up lab supported by OEI and the Board of Culture of Argentina, where she guides audiences in exploring new narrative languages and the impact of positive worldbuilding techniques. She also runs SeirenFilms, a lab devoted to exploring new narrative frontiers in emerging media.

She was a founding member of Amplify DAI, an international initiative that supports women and non-binary creators in digital media, sponsored by MUTEK, Fundación Williams, and the British Council.