Autumn Durald Arkapaw Becomes First Woman to Win Best Cinematography at Oscars
Autumn Durald Arkapaw made history Sunday night when she took home the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for Ryan Coogler’s Southern gothic, genre bending film Sinners.
Arkapaw used her acceptance speech to recognize the women who supported her throughout the journey to the Oscar stage, asking all the women in the room to stand.
“I don’t get here without you,” she said.
“I have felt so much love from all the women on this whole campaign and gotten to meet so many people, and I just feel like moments like this happen because of you guys,” Arkapaw added.
With the win, Arkapaw also became the first Black cinematographer to ever win the Academy Award for Best Cinematography.
A Groundbreaking Visual Approach Behind “Sinners”
Arkapaw and director Ryan Coogler took on an ambitious creative challenge when they decided to shoot Sinners entirely in two large format film systems: Ultra Panavision 70 and IMAX.
The film became the first feature to combine those two formats. The production also marked the first time a woman cinematographer had shot a feature film in IMAX 65 mm or any 65 mm film format, according to the American Society of Cinematographers.
Arkapaw acknowledged Coogler during her acceptance speech, thanking him for the trust he placed in her during the project.
“Whenever I say thank you to Ryan, he replies and says, ‘No, thank you,’” she said. “Thank you for believing in me, and thank you for trusting me. And that’s the kind of guy that I get to make films with.”
Before Arkapaw’s win, only three women had ever been nominated for Best Cinematography in the history of the Academy Awards.
Rachel Morrison was nominated in 2018 for Mudbound. Ari Wegner received a nomination in 2022 for The Power of the Dog. Mandy Walker was nominated in 2023 for Elvis.
Arkapaw previously worked with Coogler on the 2022 Marvel film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
She is also known for her cinematography work on the films The Last Showgirl, starring Pamela Anderson, and Teen Spirit, starring Elle Fanning.
