Biography
Ruben Van Leer is an award-winning filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist whose work bridges cinema, music, theater, and digital technology to explore humanity's evolving relationship with myth, memory, and the hidden forces that connect us across time and culture. His storytelling juxtaposes the known and the mysterious, inviting audiences to reflect on their relationships with one another and the broader fabric of life.
His acclaimed sci-fi opera Symmetry (2015), the first project selected for the prestigious Arts at CERN Residency scheme, was filmed inside CERN's Large Hadron Collider. The film, which explores the relationship between love, creation, and the building blocks of existence, earned 11 international awards, including the Golden Prague for Best Performance Arts, and is available on AppleTV. Recent works include Power of Water (2021), a climate-focused spectacle film broadcast to 180 million Eurovision viewers, and The Bird of a Thousand Voices (2024), a transmedia stage production inspired by Armenian folklore in collaboration with renowned composer and pianist Tigran Hamasyan. Blending music, ancient storytelling, interactive gaming, and immersive stage design, the work explores themes of transformation, renewal, and coexistence.
Van Leer began his career directing music videos and live visuals for international artists such as Coldplay, The Black Eyed Peas, and Yeasayer, establishing a signature style that merges popular culture with artistic depth. His multidisciplinary projects have been celebrated worldwide. Sacred Environment (2017), a virtual reality and live orchestral performance created with composer Kate Moore, won the Audience Award at the Holland Festival and was performed at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam. The Boxer (2018), an opera-film for Dutch National Opera, melded theater and sport into a poetic meditation on resilience. His recent project, Sound of Light (2023), created with Grammy-nominated saxophonist Ben Wendel, is an immersive performance that explores the boundaries of human perception through music, movement, and light. His works have been featured at venues such as Teatro Grande Pompeii and Ballet National de Marseille, highlighting Van Leer's ability to push the limits of storytelling across multiple platforms.
Grounded in a diverse musical upbringing and a passion for interdisciplinary collaboration, Van Leer studied filmmaking under Oscar nominee Jay Rosenblatt at the San Francisco Art Institute and holds advanced degrees from the Sandberg Institute and the Netherlands Film Academy. His collaborations include work with visionaries such as Peter Greenaway, Michel van der Aa, and Bill T. Jones, further advancing the intersections of art, science, and consciousness.
As the artistic director of Truth.io, a platform for cross-media research, Van Leer creates immersive works that invite audiences to reflect on the intersections of memory, cultural narratives, and the technological present-confronting fragmentation in search of deeper understanding. His works, featured on ARTE, HBO, and Nowness, embody a 21st-century Gesamtkunstwerk-a synthesis of disciplines fostering empathy, creative responsibility, and collective insight.
