With her win at Sunday’s Oscars for “Sinners,” Autumn Durald Arkapaw becomes the first woman to take home the prize for cinematography.
The film is her second collaboration with “Sinners” director Ryan Coogler, following 2018’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” Set in 1930s Mississippi, “Sinners” is a tale of vampires and blues music, cultural appropriation and the enduring relevance of Black art.
The win felt like one of the emotional highs of the night. As she took the stage, she scanned the audience to see Coogler rushing to carry her young son from farther back in the room to a seat closer to the stage.
During her speech, Arkapaw asked for all the women in the audience to stand, saying, “I don’t get here without you guys.”
Arkapaw’s work on the film also made her the first woman to shoot on the large Imax 65mm and Ultra Panavision formats. For “Sinners,” she captured the dusty grit of hard work along with flights of expressionist fantasy, such as what is now considered the film’s signature moment, when generations of Black musicians are seen performing amid the dancing crowds of a rural juke joint. The camera rises through a roof that’s on fire.
Only three women had ever been nominated in the category: Rachel Morrison in 2018 for “Mudbound,” Ari Wegner in 2022 for “The Power of the Dog” and Mandy Walker in 2023 for “Elvis.”
The 46-year-old Arkapaw, who lives in Altadena with her husband, cinematographer Adam Arkapaw, is of Filipino and Creole descent. A California native raised in the Bay Area, she has family roots in Louisiana and Mississippi, creating an even stronger bond to the world of “Sinners.”
In an interview conducted on the day she received her Oscar nomination in January, Arkapaw reflected on that sense of connection.
“When I read the story, it felt very close to home,” she said. “And I think that allows you to be able to pour yourself into it. And there’s a lot of meaning in it and you want to make your ancestors proud. This film has so much love that was poured into it on set and I think it really connected with a lot of people. And I think that’s how you do really great films. You pour as much as you can of yourself into it.”
Going into Sunday’s Academy Awards, “Sinners” was nominated for a record-breaking 16 nominations, besting the previous achievement of 14 nominations held by “All About Eve,” “Titanic” and “La La Land.”
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