Autumn Durald Arkapov won the Academy Award for best cinematography Sunday night for Ryan Coogler’s Southern Gothic, genre-bending film “Sinners.”
Arkapav asked all the women in the room to stand up during her acceptance speech because “I wouldn’t be here without you.”
“Throughout this whole campaign I have felt so much love from all the women and met so many people and I hope moments like this happen because of you,” she said.
Arkapaw is also the first black cinematographer to win the award.
Directors Coogler and Arkapav took on an enormous task when they decided to make “Sinners” the first film shot entirely in two different large formats: Ultra Panavision 70 and IMAX.
His approach was historic because it was the first time these two formats were combined in a feature. According to the American Society of Cinematographers, it was the first time a female cinematographer shot a film on IMAX 65mm or any 65mm film format.
“Every time I thank Ryan, he answers and says, ‘No, thank you.’ Thank you for believing in me, and thank you for believing in me. And I get to make movies with a guy like that,” Arkapav said in his acceptance speech.
Only three women in Oscar history have been nominated for cinematography: Rachel Morrison for “Mudbound” in 2018, Ari Wegner for “The Power of the Dog” in 2022 and Mandy Walker for “Elvis” in 2023.
Arkapav previously worked with Coogler on the 2022 Marvel film “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”
She is known for her photography work on the films “The Last Showgirl” starring Pamela Anderson and “Teen Spirit” starring Elle Fanning.
