Sinners’ Autumn Durald Arkapaw became the first woman to ever win Best Cinematography at the Oscars.
Durald Arkapaw beat Frankenstein’s Dan Laustsen, Marty Supreme’s Darius Khondji, One Battle After Another’s Michael Bauman and Train Dreams’ Adolpho Veloso.
She was only the third woman to ever be nominated in the category after Mudbound’s Rachel Morrison, The Power of the Dog’s Ari Wegner and Elvis’ Mandy Walker.
Host Conan O’Brien even called it out a few minutes later, calling Durald Arkapaw’s achievement “incredible”.
Durald Arkapaw paid tribute to director Ryan Coogler and thanked him for trusting her.
“I really want all the women in the room to stand up because I don’t get here without you guys. 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 added.
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The win was something of a surprise as Durald Arkapaw had lost out at the BAFTAs, British Society of Cinematographers and American Society of Cinematographers, losing out to One Battle After Another’s Michael Bauman in all three.
Durald Arkapaw had previously worked with Coogler on the Black Panther sequel Wakanda Forever. Last year, she said that Coogler had sent her the script the night before her first day of shooting The Last Showgirl.
“This time is special because it’s a very personal story for Ryan. There was a lot of heart in this project, and the people he asked to make it are like family; some are actual family members. So, there was a great deal of weight and responsibility we carried with us behind the work. Ryan wrote something on the page that we don’t see often, especially when it comes to our community. We took that very seriously when making the film. Seeing this response from audiences, people telling me they connected with the film and that the photography was felt, makes me so happy. It was a lot of hard work from my entire team, so that kind of response genuinely puts a big smile on my face,” she told Deadline.
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