Oleta HAFFNER – Composer
Oleta Haffner channels her deep passion for storytelling into her musical compositions. Her collaborative spirit has led her to work with directors across a spectrum of mediums, including films, animations, and theatre productions. She has also composed music for the concert hall. Recently she conducted the Flames Collective choir supporting award-winning artiste, Raye, at London’s Royal Albert Hall and the London O2 Arena with Raye and the Heritage Orchestra.
Following her graduation from the London College of Music, where she studied Film Music Composition, Oleta’s creative journey expanded to encompass a wide range of projects. She contributed music to a variety of animated shorts featured on Mashed, a Channel 4 YouTube channel. Her portfolio also includes music for Oscar and Bafta qualifying short documentary, Note of Defiance, as well as the short film, Dear Mum. More recently, Oleta has completed the music for the indie-feature film Dark Revival: The Cycle of Existence, short films Just Jackie, Aurora, Aufguss, and many more. To see her IMDB page, click here
In 2022, Oleta won the inaugural Jonas Gwangwa Composition Initiative Award which was presented by The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The initiative aims to foster broader representation in film music composition, with an emphasis on Black British talent. Composers Nainita Desai and Gary Yershon mentored her as part of the program.
Oleta conducted her piece Chemy for string orchestra, harp, and drumkit at the Royal Festival Hall in September 2023.
She served on the film music jury for the Ivor Novello Awards 2023 and was a panellist on Abbey Road Equalise 2023. She also moderated a pannel at the Watersprite Film Festival and awarded Best Film Score at the awards ceremony alongside composer Natalie Holt in 2024.
Testimonial
“She is an extremely talented composer and really understood the tone that I was looking for from the first read of the script. Working in such a creative yet collaborative art you truly have to surround yourself with talented and like-minded people to achieve your vision, so after I met Oleta and listened to her scores, I knew she was the right person to take the film to the next level. She asked the right questions, and her analysis of the story was spot on, she just got it.
So I trusted her from day one to go away and come back with a score that not only represented, accentuated and drove the narrative forward, it also encapsulated the resolution and new beginnings. She is truly wonderful.”
DONOVAN SWART, FILM DIRECTOR
