It has taken nearly a century for a woman to win the Best Cinematography Oscar award—And Autumn Durald Arkapaw's name has been etched in history for achieving the major feat at the 98th Academy Awards that took place in at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday.
Arkapaw is of Filipino and African American Creole descent and took home the award for her meticulous work in Ryan Coogler's vampire drama Sinners, starring Michael B Jordan in dual roles. She beat other nominees Dan Laustsen (Frankenstein), Darius Khondji (Marty Supreme), Michael Bauman (One Battle After Another) and Adolpho Veloso (Train Dreams) to receive the recognition, making her the first woman and first Black woman to achieve the feat.
Notably, only three women have ever been nominated for the category in the history of Academy awards: Rachel Morrison in 2018 for Mudbound, Ari Wegner in 2021 for The Power of the Dog and Mandy Walker in 2022 for Elvis.
In her acceptance speech, Arkpaw honoured all the women in the audience. "I really want all the women in the room to stand up because I feel like I don’t get here without you guys," she remarked.
She also expressed her gratitude to Coogler, with whom she previously worked in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. "Whenever I say thank you to Ryan, he replies and says, ‘no, thank you, 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," she said.
Sinners received 16 nominations, the most in Oscars history, and achieved four awards. Besides Best Cinematography, it also won for Best Actor (Michael B Jordan), Best Original Screenplay for Coogler and Best Original Score for Ludwig Goransson.
Coogler's first original film since 2013's Fruitvale Station, Sinners tells the story of identical twins (Michael B Jordan in a dual role) who return to their hometown in Mississippi to start a juke joint. They are faced with a sinister supernatural evil and must strive to stay alive through the night along with their pals. Also starring Miles Caton, Hailee Steinfeld, Jack O'Connell, Omar Benson Miller, and Delroy Lindo, among others, Sinners reportedly grossed over $360 million from theatres worldwide.
Sinners has already secured numerous awards including four prizes at the 31st Critics' Choice Awards and two wins at the 83rd Golden Globe Awards, including Cinematic and Box Office Achievement. At the recent BAFTA Awards, it scripted history by earning three bronze masks from 13 nominations.