Tarsem Singh

Key Speaker: Where Advertising Meets Cinema

Tarsem Singh, known professionally as Tarsem, is a director known for his distinct, surrealistic visual style and meticulous attention to detail. His work spans an array of revered commercials, music videos and feature films.

After completing his initial studies in India, he moved to the US to initially study business at Harvard, but soon shifted his focus to film and enrolled in the Pasadena’s Art Center College of Design, where he began to develop his personal style in filmmaking.

During the early stages of his career, Tarsem began directing music videos, including Suzanne Vega’s ‘Tired of Sleeping’ and En Vogue’s ‘Hold On’, before his breakthrough with R.E.M.' s hit song ‘Losing My Religion’. The video earned him critical acclaim, winning a Grammy for Best Music Video in 1992 and six MTV Video Music Awards, and has since garnered 1.4 billion views on YouTube.

Tarsem made his feature-film debut with ‘The Cell’ (2000), followed by ‘The Fall’ (2006), which he wrote, directed and produced and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. His filmography also includes ‘Immortals’ (2011), ‘Mirror Mirror’ (2012), ‘Self/less’ (2015) and ‘Dear Jassi’ (2023).

His advertising work includes campaigns for global brands such as Nike, Coca-Cola, Levi’s, Pepsi, Audi, Smirnoff, Absolut Vodka, MTV, Reebok, Volvo and Samsung among several others. 

Among his notable commercials are Pepsi’s ‘Gladiators’, Coca-Cola’s ‘Red’, Toyota’s ‘Upstream’, Levi’s’ ‘Swimmer’, ‘Wasted’, ‘New Orleans’ and ‘Pool Boy’, Smirnoff’s ‘Message in a Bottle’, and Nike’s ‘Good vs. Evil’.