Oscars 2026: 'Sinners' DP Autumn Durald Arkapaw Makes History as FIRST Woman to Win Best Cinematography
The supernatural horror-thriller Sinners continues its strong run at the ongoing Academy Awards. The film has already picked up several awards, and it has now added another big honour to its list. Cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw won the Oscar for Best Cinematography, creating history at the awards ceremony.
Los Angeles, March 16: The supernatural horror-thriller Sinners continues its strong run at the ongoing Academy Awards. The film has already picked up several awards, and it has now added another big honour to its list. Cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw won the Oscar for Best Cinematography, creating history at the awards ceremony. With this win, she has become the first woman ever to win the Oscar in this category. Arkapaw, who is of Filipino and African American Creole descent, is also the first woman of colour to receive this honour.
According to Variety, in the history of the Best Cinematography category, only three women had been nominated before. These include Rachel Morrison for Mudbound in 2018, Ari Wegner for 'The Power of the Dog' in 2021, and Mandy Walker for Elvis in 2022. Arkapaw also created another record while working on Sinners. She became the first female cinematographer to shoot a film using IMAX 65mm and Ultra Panavision cameras, according to Variety. Oscars 2026: 'Sinners' Wins Best Original Screenplay.
While accepting the award, Arkapaw thanked other women in the film industry and gave special mention to cinematographer Rachel Morrison. "I have felt so much love from all the women on this whole campaign and gotten to meet so many people, and I just feel like moments like this happen because of you guys, and I want to thank you for that," she said. Before the Oscars, Arkapaw had received nominations at the BAFTA Awards, the British Society of Cinematographers and the American Society of Cinematographers. However, she did not win those awards before Oscar night. ‘Sinners’: All You Need To Know About Michael B Jordan’s Oscar-Nominated Horror Action Film.
At the Oscars, she was nominated alongside Adolpho Veloso for Train Dreams, Michael Bauman for One Battle After Another, Dan Laustsen for Frankenstein, and Darius Khondji for Marty Supreme. Sinners marks her second project with director Ryan Coogler. The two had earlier worked together on 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever'. According to Variety, Sinners also made history by getting 16 nominations at the Oscars, including best picture, director, actor for Michael B. Jordan, supporting actress for Wunmi Mosaku, supporting actor for Delroy Lindo, original screenplay, casting, production design, cinematography, costume design, film editing, makeup and hairstyling, sound, visual effects, original score and original song for "I Lied to You".
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