**FREE** Q&Awards: SINNERS

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After chasing success in the North, twin brothers Smoke and Stack return to their hometown of Clarksdale, Mississippi to open a juke joint. As music and dance meld in celebration of artistry, culture and history, an evil descends, threatening to devour the heart and soul of the community. (Description courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)

Autumn Durald Arkapaw, ASC, is a visionary cinematographer heralding a new wave on the cinematographic scene. She collaborates with highly visual directors to create lush celluloid landscapes.

Her latest work includes Sinners (2025), a period drama with a supernatural twist, written, produced and directed by Ryan Coogler. Set in the 1930s South, the film follows twin brothers, both played by Michael B. Jordan, who return to their hometown only to confront an ancient evil. Sinners marks a major milestone as the first film shot by a female cinematographer using IMAX film cameras: IMAX 65mm and 65mm large-format film. Among her recent works, The Last Showgirl (2024), directed by Gia Coppola, premiered at TIFF and garnered critical acclaim. The film earned a Golden Globe nomination for Pamela Anderson, who stars alongside Jamie Lee Curtis and Dave Bautista. Durald Arkapaw held the role of director of photography on Marvel Studios' Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), directed by Ryan Coogler. The sequel grossed over $800 million worldwide. She also directed and shot Rihanna’s final music video, Lift Me Up, from the Wakanda Forever soundtrack, which received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song.

Also for Marvel Studios, Durald Arkapaw lensed the acclaimed first season of Loki, directed by Kate Herron. Released on Disney+ in June 2021, the series premiered to the highest ratings in the platform's history. She earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Cinematography in the Single-Camera Series (One-Hour) for her work on the series. 

In 2022, she became a member of the American Society of Cinematographers. That same year, Durald Arkapaw made history as the first woman of color featured on the cover of American Cinematographer magazine for her celebrated work on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Collaborating with a range of esteemed filmmakers, Durald Arkapaw has lensed for Spike Jonze on Apple TV+’s Beastie Boys Story and the Netflix comedy special Aziz Ansari: Right Now, which they filmed on 16mm film. She also lensed Max Minghella’s Teen Spirit, starring Elle Fanning.

Beyond narrative work, Durald Arkapaw’s filmmaking extends to music videos, having shot projects for Arcade Fire, The Weeknd, Jonas Brothers, Solange and Haim. Trained at the American Film Institute, she earned her MFA in Cinematography in 2009. Early in her career, she earned recognition as one of Variety’s ‘10 Cinematographers to Watch,’ highlighted in Variety’s ‘Below The Line Impact Report,’ and named in IndieWire’s ‘On The Rise: Cinematographers to Watch.’ Durald Arkapaw is represented by Iconic Talent Agency in the U.S. and LUX Artists in the U.K. & Europe.

Ruth E. Carter is a trailblazing, two-time Academy Award-winning American film costume designer, celebrated for her work in bringing to life the vibrant and culturally rich costumes of “Black Panther." Carter made history as the first Black person to win the Academy Award for Best Costume Design, securing Marvel Studios' first Oscar in the process. She repeated this groundbreaking success with “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” becoming the first Black woman to win multiple Academy Awards in any category and the first costume designer to win for both a film and its sequel.

Carter's costumes for “Black Panther” and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” are a tribute to the people of Africa, blending traditional and contemporary elements with modern technology. She skillfully created Afrofuturistic designs that honor ancient cultures, empower the female form, and provide unparalleled representation on screen. In “Wakanda Forever,” she expanded her innovative designs, introducing new superhero costumes and the underwater world of Talokan. Tasked with creating hundreds of costumes, Carter crafted visually stunning pieces inspired by both Wakandan culture and post-classic Mesoamerican Maya culture, merging history with imagination.

With over three decades of experience and more than seventy credits in film, television, and theater, Carter has worked with directors such as Spike Lee, Steven Spielberg, Ava DuVernay, and Ryan Coogler. Her designs span iconic films like “Do the Right Thing,” “Malcolm X,” “What’s Love Got to Do with It,” “Amistad,” “Selma,” “Dolemite Is My Name,” “Coming 2 America,” and the “Black Panther” franchise. Through her meticulous costume design, Carter enriches narratives, especially those centered on African American experiences, solidifying her as a preeminent voice in period genres and Afro aesthetics.

Her career achievements include Academy Award nominations for “Malcolm X” (1993) and “Amistad” (1998), as well as an Emmy nomination for the miniseries reboot of “Roots” (2016). In 2019, she was honored with the Costume Designers Guild’s Career Achievement Award and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2021. A member of the Board of Governors for the Academy  of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Carter represents the Costume Designers Branch, championing diversity in storytelling.

Most recently, Carter’s work shines in the box-office hit “Sinners,” where she elevated the film’s narrative through bold, symbolic costuming—most memorably in its iconic dance sequence—demonstrating her unmatched ability to fuse story, movement, and design into cultural spectacle. She continues to expand her influence beyond film, designing Teyana Taylor’s unforgettable Black Dandy look for the 2025 Met Gala and producing a major project on legendary couture designer Ann Lowe in partnership with Serena Williams’ production company—spotlighting the legacy of a fashion pioneer long overlooked in history.

Carter's impact in costume design extends beyond the screen and are celebrated in her traveling exhibition “Afrofuturism in Costume Design,” and her book “The Art of Ruth E. Carter,” released in May 2023. The exhibit showcases 60 costumes from Carter’s illustrious filmmaking career, infused with artistry, offering an intimate glimpse into her creative process and the iconic designs she’s brought to life on screen. The exhibition has been in residence in nine cities and will be traveling from the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, Indiana to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Carter is beloved in her hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts, where a mural of her life and career is displayed at Rebecca Johnson Elementary School. She was awarded the key to the city in 2021 for her achievements and service. Ruth Carter is a proud graduate of Hampton University, Virginia (HBCU), and has earned honorary doctorates from Hampton, Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts, and Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Ruth E. Carter’s contributions to costume design are a national treasure, preserving history, celebrating identity, and reimagining the future of Black culture on screen.

Hannah Beachler is a renowned prolific production designer with an affinity for evocative designs and visuals as she crafts unique emotional landscapes for every story she touches.  

Multi-hyphenate global icon Beyonce called on Beachler to be the production designer on her highly-acclaimed visuals for her musical film Black Is King, mega successful OTRII Tour and her stunning visual concept album Lemonade.

Beachler made history as the first African American to be nominated for and win an Academy Award for her work on Marvel’s Black Panther, directed by frequent collaborator Ryan Coogler.  She returned for its highly anticipated sequel, Marvel’s Black Panther Wakanda Forever.  Black Panther franchise box office receipts gross over $2.1 billion worldwide to date. Beachler is the first ever female production designer of a Marvel film franchise and oversaw multimillion-dollar art budgets and crews of several hundred people.

She previously collaborated with Coogler on Creed, the spinoff from the Rocky film series starring Sylvester Stallone and Coogler’s directorial debut Fruitvale Station starring Michael B. Jordan, the Sundance Film Festival winner of The Grand Jury and Audience Award.  The film also won the Prix de L’Avenir in the Un Certain Regard competition at the Cannes Film Festival.  Most recently, she was production designer for Coogler’s critically-acclaimed box office mega-hit, Sinners.  The original IP film has grossed over $365 million to date.

Director Barry Jenkins chose Beachler to design the production sets for his Best Picture Oscar-winning film Moonlight, a coming-of age tale that transcends traditional genre boundaries. The film was named one of the top 25 movies of the 21st century by The New York Times. 

Her many credits also include Academy Award winning director Steven Soderbergh’s No Sudden Move, Todd Haynes’ docu-narrative feature film Dark Waters and The Collaboration directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah, which she designed both the feature film (not yet released) and the play at London’s Young Vic.

She recently wrapped Children of Blood and Bone, shot in South Africa, directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood.

Beachler grew up in Centerville, Ohio and graduated from the University of Cincinnati where she studied fashion design. She also attended Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio where she studied film.  She lives in New Orleans.

SELECT AWARDS

2021 Art Directors Guild Award, Excellence in Production Design, Variety Special (Black Is King)

2019 Art Directors Guild Award, Excellence in Production Design, Fantasy Film (Black Panther)

2019 Academy Award, Best Achievement in Production Design (Black Panther)

2017 Art Directors Guild, Excellence in Production Design, Awards or Event Special (Lemonade)

2016 Emmy Award (Nominee), Outstanding Production Design, Variety, Nonfiction, Event or Award Special (Lemonade)

ADDITIONAL COLLABORATORS

Academy Award nominated directors Todd Haynes and Dee Rees, Grammy and Emmy nominated directors Khalil Joseph, Academy Award nominated cinematographers Ed Lachman and RodrigoPrieto, prolific cinematographers Maryse Alberti, Malik Sayeed, Autumn Durald Arkapaw and legendary Academy Award winning costume designers Ruth E. Carter and Colleen Atwood.

FULL LIST OF FILM & TELEVISION CREDITS

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1667545/

Michael P. Shawver - Originally from Rhode Island, Michael Shawver developed an early working relationship with director Ryan Coogler during their time together at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. Shawver initially edited Coogler's short film, Fig, and later went on to cut his feature debut, Fruitvale Station, starring Michael B. Jordan. The film garnered two of Sundance Film Festival's top prizes, the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize, and went on to receive numerous awards and nominations at film festivals worldwide. Shawver also edited All Summers End, a debut feature film by director Kyle Wilamowski; Warren, by director Alex Beh; Tell, for director J.M.R. Luna; and Fourth Man Out, for Andrew Nackman. Shawver's next collaboration with Coogler and Jordan was Creed, garnering him a nomination for Best Editing in the Independent Critics Poll. 

He then reunited with Coogler and Jordan on Black Panther, a box office smash, which was nominated an outstanding 43 times, including for Best Picture at the Academy Awards and Best Motion Picture Drama at the Golden Globes. His work on this project also earned him a Saturn Award Nomination for Best Editing and an Alliance of Women Film Journalists Nomination for the Best Editing EDA Award. In addition, the film won Movie of the Year at the AFI Awards.

Following Black Panther, Shawver edited A Quiet Place: Part II, directed by John Krasinski. He later returned to the Marvel universe for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, again collaborating with Coogler and Jordan. Shawver's recent work includes Abigail, a genre-bending thriller directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, and most recently, Sinners, his fifth feature collaboration with Cooler and Jordan, which has been a huge commercial and critical success. 

He is currently editing The Thomas Crown Affair directed by and starring Michael B. Jordan.