Sinners’ director of photography Autumn Durald Arkapaw became the first woman to win the Oscar for best cinematography at the 98th Academy Awards on Sunday.
Arkapaw, who worked with Sinners director Ryan Coogler on the superhero sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, is only the fourth woman nominated for the award, and the first woman of color. Before her were Rachel Morrison for Mudbound, Ari Wegner for The Power of the Dog, and Mandy Walker for Elvis.
In her acceptance speech, Arkapaw thanked the cast and crew of Sinners and asked all the women in the room to rise to their feet.
“I’m so honored to be here and I really want all the women in the room to stand up because I feel like I don’t get here without you guys,” Arkapaw told the audience.
“I have felt so much love from all the women on this whole campaign. I feel like moments like this happen because of people like you guys,” she added.
Arkapaw beat Darius Khondji (Marty Supreme), Michael Bauman (One Battle After Another) and Adolpho Veloso (Train Dreams) to make history.
Arkapaw is also the first Black person to win the category. She told reporters: “A lot of little girls that look like me will sleep really well tonight.”
Before the Oscars, Sinners had already made history for women cinematographers. The supernatural thriller was shot in both IMAX and Ultra Panavision 70. Arkapaw became the first woman to shoot a feature in large-format IMAX, usually operating the 65-pound camera herself, Complex reported.
“I heard a phrase that said you need to see you to be you,” she told The Associated Press in 2025. “I think for us females in business, the more women are able to shoot on large format, it will inspire the younger girls who maybe don’t think that they can get there.”
Arkapaw is a native of Northern California raised by a Filipino mother and a father of Black Creole heritage. She studied art history at Loyola Marymount University but later attended graduate school at the American Film Institute, where she pursued cinematography.
It wasn’t all rosy for Arkapaw as she faced rejections from film schools and agents while still building a portfolio that ultimately included independent films, music videos and big projects like Loki, Complex reported.
Her family background influenced how she approached Sinners. She said she has family members from the American South, where the thriller was filmed. Thus, everything she did or witnessed on set carried personal meaning for her.
“You think about your ancestors and what they felt like on that land,” she said to the New York Times.
Sinners won four Oscars at the 98th Academy Awards after receiving a record-breaking 16 nominations. Besides winning for Best Cinematography, the film won awards for Best Actor (Michael B. Jordan), Best Original Screenplay (Ryan Coogler), and Best Original Score (Ludwig Göransson).