María Laura Ruggiero
María Laura Ruggiero
María Laura Ruggiero is an Argentine filmmaker and narrative designer specialized in experiential and transmedia 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 an international speaker on narrative innovation and virtual reality, having presented at MUTEK, SXSW, MIT, ONA, Berlinale, TEDx, VR Fest, Congreso Quirino de Animación, America’s Cultural Summit, Ibermedia, Xpylab and more.
She is a Berlinale Alumna, 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, H20 British Council, and the Alice Down the Rabbit Hole Award from Digital Jove Spain.
Since 2020, she has worked as a Creative Consultant for the World Bank’s Virtual Reality Division. In 2023, she became a Storytelling Mentor and Jury Member for MIT Reality Hack, the renowned Virtual Reality Hackathon at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2025, she continues her collaboration with MIT, hosting the session “Crafting the In-Between: Storytelling for Mixed and Hybrid Realities”. Her project Wave 201: The Unwanted Atlantis is 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.
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 runs SeirenFilms, a company devoted to exploring new narrative frontiers in emerging media.
She was a founding member of Amplify DAI, an international initiative supporting women and non-binary creators in digital media, sponsored by MUTEK, Fundación Williams, and the British Council
A.KA. Domar Huracanes
María Laura, also known as Domar Huracanes (Taming Hurricanes), is an Image and Sound Designer, lover of storms and extreme weather, virtual explorer, and field guide of #storyhackers.
Space geek, astronomy, and space exploration fan. Passionate about design, architecture, surfing, and sustainability. All love for wilderness.
Yoga and meditation instructor, lover of Borgesian labyrinths, Elvis Presley, and bioluminescent phenomena. Freediving apprentice.
Mythologies, hybrid beings, cyberpunk, Bauhaus, California, and photos of alpacas make me happy. Brit Marling and lo-fi sci-fi fan.
Poetry and pixels. Worldbuilder of immersive stories and narrative ecosystems.Creator and narrative designer of SeirenFilms.
To find out more, drop me an email or send a photo of the ocean. I live in Buenos Aires, but my mind always wanders between Californian sequoias and crystal-clear water beaches. I am always writing something
