The High Stakes of the Cinematography Oscar Race |
There is one Oscar stat I find more glaring than any other: There is still a single Oscar category that has never been won by a woman (outside of the male actor categories, of course). That category is cinematography.
I’m Rebecca Ford, and I’ve been following along for years as this category continues to maintain its boys club status. It wasn’t until 2018 that a woman even earned a nomination (Rachel Morrison, for Mudbound); this year Autumn Durald Arkapaw became just the fourth woman to earn a spot.
I recently sat down with Arkapaw to talk about making the incredibly ambitious Sinners and her path into cinematography. She was convinced that she could do the job once she stumbled upon another woman’s name in the credits of a film: Ellen Kuras, the DP of Blow. “There was one,” Arkapaw told me. “So I thought, Oh, if there’s one, there can be more.”
Arkapaw, who is also the first woman of color nominated for the category, is now arguably the front-runner to win—and make history. She admits to feeling “pressure” about that, but has mostly tried to keep her head down and not think about it. She also has some formidable competition in Dan Laustsen (Frankenstein), Darius Khondji (Marty Supreme), Michael Bauman (One Battle After Another) and Adolpho Veloso (Train Dreams).
Arkapaw isn’t the only Sinners team member who could make history with a win. No Black filmmaker has ever won the directing category—where Ryan Coogler is a contender this year. But regardless of what happens on Oscar night, Sinners has already made history with its 16 nominations—the most for any movie. Arkapaw’s work on Sinners, which required her to work on two different large formats—Ultra Panavision 70 and IMAX—is also historic in its own right. Wouldn’t it be fitting for her to make history as well? |
