Autumn Durald Arkapaw became the first woman to win Best Cinematography at the Academy Awards on Sunday.
“You have so much to say, especially after 98 years,” Durald said in the Oscars press room after her win. “Then no one was bringing up a piece of paper, so I tried to just have it all in my head.”
“But one thing I was gonna say, that I had written down, was that a lot of little girls that look like me will sleep really well tonight. Because they’ll want to become cinematographers. And I know that. Just being on stage, getting this award, will change so many girls’ lives because they’ll be inspired when they weren’t before.”
She won at the 98th Academy Awards for her work in “Sinners,” which also won Best Original Screenplay for Ryan Coogler earlier in the ceremony. “Sinners” marks Durald Arkapaw’s second collaboration with the filmmaker following their work together on “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”
This win for Durald Arkapaw, who is of African American Creole descent on her father’s side and of Filipino descent on her mother’s, was long overdue in the Best Cinematography category at the Academy Awards. It wasn’t until 2017, when Bradford Young was recognized for his work on Denis Villeneuve’s “Arrival,” that a Black creator was nominated in the category at the Oscars.
One year later, Rachel Morrison would become the first woman nominated in the category, recognized then for serving as DP on Dee Rees’ “Mudbound.” Only three women have been nominated in the category since then: Ari Wegner (“The Power of the Dog”) in 2022, Mandy Walker (“Elvis”) in 2023 and now Durald Arkapaw, who is also the first person of color to be recognized. Best Cinematography was the last category (outside male acting awards) to nominate a woman at the Oscars for the first time.
Durald’s first feature as a cinematographer came in 2013, when she served as DP on Gia Coppola’s “Palo Alto.” She later reunited with Coppola for “Mainstream” and “The Last Showgirl,” teaming with Coogler for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” in between the two. Before working with Coogler, Durald first worked in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the cinematographer for the first season of “Loki.”
This win continues a history-making run for “Sinners.” On Oscar nomination morning, “Sinners” became the most-recognized film of all time at the Academy Awards, bringing in a record 16 nominations. The previous record of 14 nominations had been in place for 75 years, established by “All About Eve” at the 1971 Oscars and later tied by “Titanic” (1998) and “La La Land” (2017).
