The central image of Ryan Coogler’s Sinners is a vivid hallucinatory, time-bending musical number that snakes its way through decades of Black artistry. What starts as a solo bluesman performance transforms into something else entirely, as dancers, DJs, electric guitarists and rappers spill out onto the dance floor.
As Miles Caton’s Sammie reaches his soaring crescendo, the glow of the juke joint bathes the swirling crowd in a dusty gold. It’s a remarkable feat of cinematography, and one that could prove to be director of photography Autumn Durald Arkapaw’s defining moment.
“There’s so many layers to that sequence — how we executed it, but also all the historical layers regarding ancestry, music, culture and where our community was born from,“ the cinematographer told Variety upon the film’s release in 2025. “It was fun to do, and ultimately it turned out really cool, because it means so much to a diverse group of people. That’s what makes it a good conversation piece.“
Hollywood seems to agree. On Sunday, the movie industry’s inner sanctum celebrated the genre-defining spectacle, with Sinners scoring four accolades at the 98th Academy Awards from its record-breaking 16 nominations. From Best Actor for Michael B. Jordan’s double-trouble performance to Best Original Screenplay and Best Original Score, the gothic horror’s reach stretched to almost every facet of the filmmaking process. Arguably none were more deserving than that of Durald Arkapaw.
With her Best Cinematography Award, the 46-year-old director of photography becomes the first Woman of Colour to ever receive Academy recognition. She also became the first woman to win the category, with only three women having receiving nominations since its inception in 1927.
The Beauty of ‘Sinners’
A bleak, contemporary masterpiece that fuses supernatural horror with blues folklore, Sinners is a rare beast. An allegorical horror that explores complex themes of colonialism, racism, it hinges on the tension between traditional spirituality and imposed religion.
Sinners follows WWI veteran twin brothers, Smoke and Stack (both played by Michael B. Jordan), as they return to the 1932 Mississippi Delta to open a juke joint. When a supernatural vampire threat rooted in Jim Crow racism emerges, the brothers are forced to confront an ancient evil that preys on their community.
It’s the kind of ambitious entertainment project that generally scares conservative production studios away; often categorised as too weird to make and too rare to become cult, but thankfully, Warner Bros. had faith in Ryan Coogler’s vision. He, in turn, trusted Autumn Durald Arkapaw to bring it to life.
“Sinners was a personal project for Ryan as it was inspired by his uncle, James Edmonson, and his love for the Delta blues,“ Durald Arkapaw told Kodak. “I read the script the night before I started shooting The Last Showgirl (2024, dir. Gia Coppola) on 16mm film, and was just blown away. It was beautifully written with so much heart and soul and fluidity between genres.“
“It also meant a lot to me personally. My great-grandmother was born in Mississippi and my father in New Orleans,“ she continued. “My family still lives there, so it was important for me to understand my own history and how it connected to this story. While we were shooting the film, I kept thinking about my ancestors and how I wanted to make them proud.“
IMAX 65mm
With so much of Sinners rooted in traditional folklore, both Coogler and Durald Arkapaw wanted to recreate a film look. The initial plan was to shoot on 35mm in the Spielberg fashion, but after a screening session of 70mm clips from 2001: A Space Odyssey, Quentin Tarantino‘s The Hateful Eight and Tenet, the pair moved in a different, infinitely more difficult direction.
“Ryan fell in love with what he saw,“ Durald Arkapaw told Kodak. “So, we wrangled a Panavision System 65 camera, together with an IMAX film camera, and shot tests in the desert in Lancaster, northern Los Angeles County, to see how they rendered the landscape and flat horizon….After you see the beauty and scope you can capture on these formats, you can’t go back.“
With that decision, Durald Arkapaw became the first female DP to shoot a feature film on 65mm in IMAX format. What she did with it was remarkable.
Sweat and Highlights
In a rare move, the director of photography chose to deliberately underexpose many of the shots in Sinners. This move helped to maintain detail in the highlights, creating greater visual contrast between light and dark. Crucially, this approach also demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of how light interacts with darker skin tones, particularly under the punishing Mississippi sun.
By preserving highlights rather than flattening exposure, Durald Arkapaw allows skin to retain depth, dimension, and specularity. You see every bead of sweat and the shadows that engulf a face feel natural and intentional, giving each character their own sense of presence.
“Alongside exploring my own ancestral connections to the time and place of the story, it was a profound experience to create lasting, emotional images using 65mm and IMAX 65mm film formats,“ she told Kodak. “During production, I truly felt we were making something rare, meaningful and important together. It means the world to me that audiences have responded to Sinners with such appreciation and heart.”
Hiding in the Shadows
To me, what makes Sinners a visual feast isn’t just the vibrant storytelling or remarkable costuming (courtesy of Ruth E Carter), it’s how the film eschews contemporary lighting practices. Sinners is a rich exploration of shadows and darkness, brought to the surface in vivid contrast.
Sinners looks unique because it dares to be different. In an era when film colours are slowly blending into one and Netflix filters are the industry norm, Durald Arkapaw’s approach feels decidedly more considered. Like Deacon and Lubezki before her, she uses visual language to progress the story, rather than merely complement it. In Sinners, the shadows are always lurking at the edge of the frame, pushing the audience to seek answers in the darkness.
Nothing is spelled out, illuminated or exposed; with Durald Arkapaw’s work you have to watch closely to see it all unfold. Hers is an old style of filmmaking that appeals to our morbid sense of curiosity. It proves that, more often than not, what is lurking in the shadows is far more interesting than what we see in the light.
At the 98th Academy Awards on March 15, Ryan Coogler’s Sinners recieved four awards. The film was recognised for , won four Oscars at the 98th Academy Awards in 2026. Despite receiving a record-breaking 16 nominations, the film took home awards for Best Actor (Michael B. Jordan), Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Original Score. In January, Sinners received 16 nominations, setting a record for the most in Oscars history. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voters bestowed the honour in January 2026, breaking the 14-nomination mark set by All About Eve, Titanic and La La Land.
