Henry-AlexRubin
Director, SMUGGLER
Henry-Alex Rubin is a renowned filmmaker and commercial director known for his strong command of craft and ability to find story and truth in all he does. Upon graduating from Columbia University’s film program, Rubin dove into directing with his feature debut Murderball, a highly visual documentary about quadriplegics who play rugby in mad-max style wheelchairs. Murderball was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Henry’s foray into commercial directing came with the celebrated Crispin Porter + Bogusky spot, “Whopper Freakout,” for Burger King; the spot would go on to win 3 Gold Lions at Cannes and the coveted “Advertising Excellence Award” at the AICP Show. Since then, Rubin has become one of the most awarded commercial directors in the world, with over 40 Cannes Lions to his name for brands like Adidas, Sony, Amex, AT&T, McDonald’s, Volvo, Samsung, Jaguar, Guinness, Gatorade.
Additional groundbreaking commercials by Rubin include his anthemic, iconic and emotional black and white spot for TBWA\Chiat\Day and Gatorade celebrating the legacy of former Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter set to Frank Sintra’s “My Way.” The spot received universal acclaim including an Emmy nomination for Best Commercial. His PSA, “Evan” with BBDO NY and Sandy Hook Promise, a short film about gun violence in schools, received over 100 million views on YouTube and netted a Cannes Gold Lion upon its release.
Rubin’s latest installment for Sandy Hook and BBDO NY “Back to School Essentials,” is a haunting and powerful follow up for a sadly increasingly necessary cause. The PSA starts off as a familiar back-to-school ad but slowly unfolds to highlight students using everyday back-to-school items to survive an outbreak of gun violence, shedding light on the gruesome reality that youngsters face in the reality of classroom and campus shootings. The short won five Gold Pencils at the One Show, two D&AD Yellow Pencils, and Clio & Brand Storytelling’s Inaugural Storytelling for Good Award at the Sundance Film Festival, the first advertising award to be presented at a major international film festival. The film also won Best Concept and Best Public Service Announcement at the AICP Awards as well as the Emmy for Best Commercial.
In addition to his commercial career, Rubin is a prolific feature film director as well. Rubin’s narrative feature debut, Disconnect, a drama centered on a group of people searching for human connections in today's wired world, starring Alexander Skarsgård and Jason Bateman, and premiered at the Venice Film Festival. His latest film Semper Fi, starring Jai Courtney, Leighton Meester, Nat Wolff, and Finn Wittrock, was released by Lionsgate.