<\/p>\n
With her win at Sunday\u2019s Oscars for \u201cSinners,\u201d Autumn Durald Arkapaw becomes the first woman to take home the prize for cinematography.<\/p>\n
The film is her second collaboration with \u201cSinners\u201d<\/a> director Ryan Coogler, following 2018\u2019s \u201cBlack Panther: Wakanda Forever.\u201d Set in 1930s Mississippi, \u201cSinners\u201d is a tale of vampires and blues music, cultural appropriation and the enduring relevance of Black art.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n During her speech, Arkapaw asked for all the women in the audience to stand, saying, \u201cI don\u2019t get here without you guys.\u201d<\/p>\n Arkapaw\u2019s work on the film also made her the first woman to shoot on the large Imax 65mm and Ultra Panavision formats. For \u201cSinners,\u201d she captured the dusty grit of hard work along with flights of expressionist fantasy, such as what is now considered the film\u2019s signature moment<\/a>, when generations of Black musicians are seen performing amid the dancing crowds of a rural juke joint. The camera rises through a roof that\u2019s on fire.<\/p>\n Only three women had ever been nominated in the category: Rachel Morrison in 2018 for \u201cMudbound,\u201d Ari Wegner in 2022 for \u201cThe Power of the Dog\u201d and Mandy Walker in 2023 for \u201cElvis.\u201d<\/p>\n 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 \u201cSinners.\u201d<\/p>\n