Safi Rauf Bio

I was born and raised in an Afghan refugee camp in Pakistan, where my passion for cameras and storytelling first took root. With a handy-cam and a Sony Cybershot, which I inherited, I became the de facto cinematographer and photographer for my entire village, capturing weddings, holidays, you name it. At 17, I immigrated to the United States, and after high school, I joined the Joint Special Operations Command as a linguist. Here, my fluency in six languages became a crucial asset in hundreds of operations with the Special Operations Task Force (Delta Force) from 2012 to 2016. This role honed my teamwork skills and adaptability under pressure.

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After JSOC, I joined the Navy Reserves as a corpsman while pursuing a pre-med degree at Georgetown University, from which I graduated in 2021. Driven by humanitarian commitment to my country, I returned to Afghanistan in 2021, helping evacuate thousands of at-risk Afghans and American nationals. Unfortunately and shockingly, while conducting aid work in country in December 2021, I was taken hostage by the Taliban and held as a captive for 105 days. Mercifully, I was released in April 2022 and upon returning to the states, decided to shift my focus to amplifying the stories and causes that mattered to me most. This has led me to now full embrace my passion for storytelling through the camera.

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Upon my release, my wife, a Broadway director, and I were commissioned by Theater Aspen to create a play based on my story, which received The Solo Flights Project Advancement Fund award. While foraying into narrative cinematography in addition to non-fiction, I am currently developing my debut feature film with the support of the Sundance Screenwriters Intensive, for which my co-writer and I were selected as 2025 Sundance Institute Fellows. Over the past three years, I've served as a cinematographer and associate producer on four documentaries, including "A Man with Sole: The Impact of Kenneth Cole," which was featured at The Sundance Film Festival, The Hamptons International Film Festival, DOC NYC, and more. Additionally, my work as a cinematographer and editor for Marathon Digital allowed me to capture behind-the-scenes content for Broadway hits like "Hamilton" and "Hadestown," continuing to ignite my passion for visual storytelling.