Oren Soffer

Oren Soffer
אורן סופר
Born	(1988-07-02) July 2, 1988 (age 36) Haifa, Israel
Alma mater	New York University (BFA)
Occupation	Cinematographer
Years active	2011 - Present
Notable work	A Nightmare Wakes (2020) Allswell in New York (2022) The Creator (2023)
Website	http://orensoffer.com

Oren Soffer (Hebrew: אורן סופר) (born July 2, 1988) is an Israeli-American cinematographer.[1][2][3] He is best known for his work on the science fiction film The Creator (2023), which he filmed as co-cinematographer with Greig Fraser, as well as Allswell in New York (2022), Fixation (2022), A Nightmare Wakes (2020), and Opera of Cruelty (2017).[4][5][6][7] In 2024, he was listed on Variety's "10 Cinematographers to Watch."[8]

Career

Soffer studied at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, and was nominated for the American Society of Cinematographers Gordon Willis Student Heritage Award in 2015.[9] He has been an adjunct professor at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.[10] In 2022, he was brought in by Greig Fraser to take over as director of photography for the main production shoot of Gareth Edwards' science fiction film The Creator, which was filmed in Thailand from January to May of that year, while Fraser worked on the film's pre-production before moving to a remote role due to his commitment to Dune: Part Two. This would mark Soffer's first film production for a major film studio. Edwards praised the talent and expertise Soffer brought to the film's production, calling him a "real future rising star in the DoP world. He’s super-smart. He’s got a great eye."[11] For their work on the film, Soffer and Fraser were nominated for Best Cinematography at the 2023 Seattle Film Critics Society Awards and longlisted in the Best Cinematography category at the 77th British Academy Film Awards.[12][13]

Filmography

Short film

Year	Title	Director	Notes
2011	Swimming Pool	Himself	Also writer and editor
2012	Free	Marlee Roberts
	Citizen Jane	Ben Nelson
	Still	Ben Nelson
	A Flight of Fancy	Scott Schuler
2013	Almond Joy	Nora Unkel
	Reservations	Charlie Redd	Also camera operator
	Lonely Devil666	John Liang
	It Don't Come Easy	Sabrina Jaglom	Also camera operator
	Life Out There	Zach Terry
	Matches	Samuel Besser
	A Teacher's Reward	Laura Brown
	A Mail Tale: The Untrolled Story	Ben Nelson
	Blood Relations	Chris Kappel
2014	Little Drifter	Jacob Bittens
	Do Us Part	Katie Baldocchi
	A Quiet Life	Zach Terry
	Florence is Burning	Mackenzie Lukenbill
	An Unknown Condition	Alfonso Morgan-Terrero
2015	Karkass Karts	Ben Nelson
	Swept	Jeanna de Waal Morgan Lynch
	Check Please	Daniel Sorochkin
2016	#BlowingUp	Ben Nelson
	Uncle Gareth	Chris London
	Kabul	Lauren Fritz
	Gallina	Lauren Fritz
	The New 35	Michelle Bossy
	Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Excavation of Professor Ahab	Chani Gatto-Bradshaw
2017	Lola and Dallas	Daniel Sorochkin
	Alientologists	Tyler Rabinowitz
	Far from the Tree	Dave Thomas
	Stanley & Afsaneh	Jamaal Parham Bashan Aquart
	The Untimely Gift	Scott Aharoni Dennis Latos
	Opera of Cruelty	Max Fedore
2018	Ready	Melissa Farman
	EL Cuco is Hungry	Daniel Garcia
	Aurum I	Max Fedore
2019	Negroland	Jewel Coronel
	Ride	Meredith Alloway
2020	See You Soon	Tyler Rabinowitz
	Margo & Perry	Becca Roth
2021	For Armetta	Kevin Wilson Jr.
	Champ	Ben Tricklebank
	The Letter Men	Andy Vallentine
2022	Fraud	Zen Pace
	Catalina	Tyler Rabinowitz

Feature film

Year	Title	Director	Notes
2015	No Letting Go	Jonathan D. Bucari	Also camera operator
2016	Little Miss Perfect	Marlee Roberts
2017	A Good Dream	Mahum Jamal
	Fail State	Alexander Shebanow	Shared credit with Joel Kingsbury, Alexander J. Hufschmid, Alexander Shebanow and Michael Swaigen
2020	A Nightmare Wakes	Nora Unkel
2022	Allswell in New York	Ben Snyder
	Fixation	Mercedes Bryce Morgan
2023	The Creator	Gareth Edwards	Shared credit with Greig Fraser
TBA	Onslaught	Adam Wingard	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Notes
2016	Fallout High	TV short
2021	Action Royale	10 episodes

Music video

Year	Title	Notes
2016	"Burning in Birmingham"	Also producer
2017	"Good Hurt"
	"Pumpkin Pie"
2018	"Come Follow Me Down"
2019	"God Bless Our Souls"
2020	"Pink Pony Club"

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result	Ref.
2016	FilmQuest	Best Cinematography	Karkass Karts	Nominated	[14]
	American Society of Cinematographers	Heritage Awards	Reservations	Nominated	[15]
	Julien Dubuque International Film Festival	Excellence In Cinematography	No Letting Go	Nominated	[16]
2017	First Run Film Festival	Craft Award - Cinematography	Opera of Cruelty	Won	[17]
	Nordic International Film Festival	Best Cinematography	Far from the Tree	Nominated
	IndieFEST Film Awards	Award of Excellence - Best Cinematography		Won
	Reel East Texas Film Festival	Best Cinematography - Short		Nominated
	Focus International Film Festival	Jury Prize - Best Cinematography in a Short Film		Nominated
	Southampton International Film Festival	Best Cinematography in a Short Film		Won
	Nordic International Film Festival	Best Cinematography		Nominated
	Hollywood International Moving Pictures Film Festival	HIMPFF Award of Recognition - Best Cinematography	A Good Dream	Won
	International Filmmaker Festival of World Cinema, Berlin	Best Cinematography in a Feature Film		Won
	International Independent Film Awards	Platinum Award - Best Cinematography		Won
2023	Seattle Film Critics Society	Best Cinematography (Shared with Grieg Fraser)	The Creator	Nominated	[12]

References

1. "Allswell DP Oren Soffer on Taking Inspiration From Classic New York Movies and His Bond With Greig Fraser". btlnews.com. 29 August 2022. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
2. "Oren Soffer". nofilmschool.com. 4 September 2014. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
3. "Meet Oren Soffer - Cinematographer". shoutoutla.com. 6 June 2022. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
4. "'The Creator': Cast, Release Date, Plot, and Everything We Know So Far". collider.com. 6 May 2023. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
5. "ALLSWELL". tribecafilm.com. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
6. "FIXATION". pifff.fr. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
7. "Cinematographer Oren Soffer crafts a nuanced portrait of an intimate weekend for the short film See You Soon". panavision.com. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
8. "'Alien Romulus,' 'The Creator,' 'Strange Darling' Helmers Among Variety's 2024 Cinematographers to Watch". Variety. 2014-10-17. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
9. "American Society of Cinematographers Names Student Award Recipients". hollywoodreporter.com. 27 September 2015. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
10. "OREN SOFFER". tisch.nyu.edu. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
11. https://www.gamesradar.com/gareth-edwards-the-creator-guerilla-filmmaking/
12. Anderson, Erik (January 4, 2023). "Seattle Film Critics Society (SFCS) Nominations: 'Poor Things,' 'Killers of the Flower Moon' Lead". AwardsWatch. Retrieved January 4, 2023.
13. https://www.bafta.org/film/longlists-2024-ee-bafta-film-awards
14. "2016 FilmQuest – FilmQuest".
15. "13 Students Nominated for 2015 ASC Gordon Willis Heritage Awards". theasc.com. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
16. "No Letting Go". imdb.com. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
17. "FIRST RUN FESTIVAL. 2017 UNDERGRADUATE CRAFT AWARDS". tisch.nyu.edu. Retrieved 2023-05-15.

External links

• Oren Soffer at IMDb
• Official website