Oscars 2026: Autumn Durald Arkapaw makes history as first woman to win best cinematography

March 15, 2026

Autumn Durald Arkapaw accepts the best cinematography award for ‘Sinners’ onstage during the 98th Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026, in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Autumn Durald Arkapaw made Oscars history as the first woman to win the award for best cinematography at the 98th Academy Awards on Sunday.

Arkapaw was awarded the prize for best cinematography for her work on Sinners. Arkapaw is only the fourth woman to be nominated in the category, and she is also the first woman of color to be nominated. Now she is the first woman to win the award in the academy’s 98-year history.

The other nominees in the category were Adolpho Veloso for Train Dreams, Michael Bauman for One Battle After Another, Dan Laustsen for Frankenstein and Darius Khondji for Marty Supreme.

After taking the stage to accept her prize, Arkapaw asked all of the women in the room to stand up.

“I feel like I don’t get here without you guys,” Arkapaw said. “I really, really, truly mean that.”

The three other women who have been nominated in the category are Rachel Morrison for the 2018 film Mudbound, Ari Wegner for the 2021 movie The Power of the Dog and Mandy Walker for 2022’s Elvis.

Arkapaw also thanked Sinners director Ryan Coogler.

“Thank you for believing in me and thank you for trusting me, and that’s the kind of guy I get to make films with,” Arkapaw said.

Written by: sn4zcreativ3

Rate it