Fil-Am Autumn Arkapaw becomes 1st woman to win Oscars’ cinematography award

LOS ANGELES – In one fell swoop, a Filipino American shattered several glass ceilings for women and minorities in cinema.

Autumn Durald Arkapaw, whose family roots are from Masantol, Pampanga in the Philippines and the American South, bagged the Best Cinematography award for Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” in the Oscars ceremonies Sunday, March 15.

She became the first woman, first Filipino, first Black, and first Asian woman to win the award in the Academy’s nearly 100-year history.

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‘Sinners’ actor Michael B. Jordan being lensed by Autumn Durald Arkapaw. Photo from Warner Bros. Pictures

In the star-studded Hollywood’s biggest night of the year at the Dolby Theatre, the pioneering director of photography (DP) broke several glass ceilings when her name was read aloud as the Best Cinematography winner.

Breaking century-long male stronghold

Until Arkapaw’s historic triumph, the cinematography category was the only one not yet won by a woman in the Academy’s 98 years of existence. Arkapaw finally broke the nearly century-long male stronghold. She was only the fourth woman to be nominated in the category, following Rachel Morrison, Ari Wegner and Mandy Walker.

The history-making Fil-Am Autumn Durald Arkapaw and Inquirer.net’s Ruben V. Nepales at Warner Brothers’ Oscars pre-party. CONTRIBUTED

In the awards season leading up to Oscars night, Arkapaw reaped the cinematography award from most critics groups, including the National Board of Review, for her visually stunning work in “Sinners,” an acclaimed vampire horror film that explores race relations.

The movie garnered record-breaking 16 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. As one of the film’s producers, Zinzi Coogler is the first Filipino to receive the Academy’s Best Picture nomination. She shares the honor with her husband, director Ryan Coogler, and Sev Ohanian.

In her standout film starring Michael B. Jordan, Arkapaw set other career milestones. She is the first woman to shoot on both IMAX film and Ultra Panavision, and the only DP to shoot with IMAX film stock, which Kodak developed specifically for the movie.

In Warner Brothers’ Oscars pre-party on Friday, Arkapaw told this writer that she will attend the ceremonies with her husband, Emmy-winning cinematographer Adam Arkapaw, mother Peggy Bautista, stepfather, and son Aedan Isaiah Arkapaw. The Fil-Am revealed that she will wear a gown by fashion designer Thom Browne.

Inspired by Fil-Am Matthew Libatique

Arkapaw is inspired by Matthew Libatique, the first Filipino to earn the Academy cinematography citation for “Black Swan,” and later got two more nods for “A Star Is Born” and “Maestro.” Both trailblazing Filipino directors of photography went to the American Film Institute (AFI) Conservatory, although in separate years. But they both enrolled in the Master of Fine Arts in Cinematography program.

Arkapaw studied art history at Loyola Marymount University, hoping to be a gallery curator or a photographer. But taking a film course as a curriculum requirement and watching movies like “Broadway Danny Rose,” “Raging Bull,” and “Trainspotting” sparked her interest in film photography.

In our previous interview, Arkapaw recalled Libatique’s lecture at the AFI. She said, “It was really amazing to see Matty Libatique.” “Requiem for a Dream,” one of Libatique’s collaborations with Darren Aronofsky, also inspired her. “Matty’s work was always some of my favorite films.

“He came to our school one day at AFI. He also went there. I remember seeing him and just feeling a sense of being just proud. Proud to see someone who looked like me, part of my culture, up there doing great work.

“It was just one person, right? But his work and him standing there, and he was so cool. I felt like I could do this. It’s important to see your culture reflected in the business in order to give you the bravery to be able to do work and to put yourself into it.”

She continued, “And so in meeting Ryan Coogler, it’s also being able to find that community that you feel safe in and that you’re trusted. So it’s really nice to work with people that look like me on these movies.”

Arkapaw’s highly praised work in “Sinners,” including an often-cited ravishing sunrise sequence, highlights her gradual yet steady ascension in motion picture photography. Starting with low-budget indies, including Gia Coppola’s “Palo Alto” and Max Minghella’s “Teen Spirit,” she racked up credits, including commercials, documentaries (Spike Jonze’s “Beastie Boys Story”), and music videos (Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up”). Autumn worked again with Gia in “The Last Showgirl.”

Filipino upbringing

It has been quite a ride to Oscars history for the woman who was born in Oxnard, California, but grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. “My mom, like my auntie, I call her Mama Lin,” she reminisced about her Filipino upbringing. “My mom was a working woman. She remarried when I was in eighth grade.

“So my stepdad is a big part of my life. They’ve always been supportive of this career choice, which meant a lot of student loans and not always knowing what a cinematographer did, but they trusted that it was something important to me.

“But yeah, my upbringing was very much with my mom’s side, who’s Filipino, and we grew up in the Bay Area. My auntie and cousins lived in Fremont, where there is a very big Filipino community. My mom would leave me there a lot when she was working. So they were a part of my upbringing, as far as watching me. So I always had family watching me.

“My mom has six brothers. So there’s a lot of grandkids and cousins. It was very much like we always had Thanksgiving or any chance to celebrate. Filipinos will have a party, and they’ll cook a lot of food. So that’s how my upbringing was, being raised by my aunties and uncles.”

Hailee Steinfeld

“Sinners,” a global hit, also stars Hailee Steinfeld, with whom Autumn shares an Oscars record. Steinfeld is the first Filipino American to earn an Oscar acting nomination for “True Grit” in 2010.

“Hailee has a very amazing presence in the space,” Arkapaw said. “And then when I found out (that Hailee is a Fil-Am), I think Ryan told me first, and then we talked about it when we were on set, like our background, which was really lovely because it’s just nice when you meet other women who have a similar background. I’m honored to call her a friend. She’s a really wonderful person.”

Arkapaw reflected on her journey as a woman of color in the male-dominated cinematography field. “I got into this career path. I’ve been doing it for a while, but there weren’t a lot of women that I could find early on, when I was looking into the career. Then, also when I started to do it in film school, there were 11 girls in my class out of 28. So I always knew women were interested in it.

“But the more I’ve done it, the opportunities are few and far between. I’ve been very fortunate as a woman working on larger projects with Ryan. When I was able to do ‘Loki,’ that was a big deal. And so it was really nice.

“But I do find that now, it’s more prevalent. Like, I have a lot of young girls, whether they’re Filipino or Black, reaching out to me, saying, how important it is to be able to see me in order to believe that they can one day do that job.”

She added, “So that aspect, really, it matters to me, to go out and talk, and do these Q and A’s and make sure that I tell these girls that they have a place and that their point of view matters. So, it’s very special.”

Autumn Arkapaw hopes to visit PH

The precedent-setting DP, who hopes to visit the Philippines for the first time someday, will team up again with Coogler on “The X-Files” reboot, which he will direct and is now writing.

Asked for her advice to aspiring cinematographers, especially women of color, including Filipinas, Arkapaw answered, “I always say, just be yourself. There’s a lot of when you’re younger, especially being Filipino and Black, and also not growing up in communities where people knew what your background was, because everyone’s always trying to be like, what are you, and kind of place you in a box, which is unfortunate, right?

“I try to say, just pour as much of yourself into anything that you do, even if you don’t feel like you’re being reflected in the community that you’re in, because that’s when people feel scared. If they’re the one single person and everyone around them doesn’t look like them, it could be difficult to be free creatively.

“So I try to tell them, don’t be scared to put yourself out there like where you came from,” she stressed. “Your point of view matters. You do matter. That’s my advice.”

Arkapaw was quoted as saying that being approached by young girls who want to follow her career journey makes her think, “I’m already a winner.”

“It’s a dream come true,” Arkapaw said about stepping on the Oscars red carpet on March 15 as a first-time nominee.

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