Even though Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” didn’t enjoy an Oscars sweep at the Academy Awards Sunday, the Oakland filmmaker and his movie triumphed in other ways, winning four trophies and bringing global recognition to Black storytelling and to the Bay Area’s dynamic filmmaking community.
Coogler’s Bay Area friends and colleagues say that “Sinners” already made history by going into the ceremony with a record 16 nominations, the most in the Academy’s nearly 100 history. They also celebrated the 39-year-old director, writer and producer receiving his first Oscar for best original screenplay and star Michael B. Jordan getting one of the night’s top prizes — the best actor award.
“I think what ‘Sinners,’ what Ryan Coogler, being from the Bay and this being an original film, have been able to generate — it shows that our stories matter,” said Jamal Trulove, a filmmaker, community advocate and founder of Bay Area Film Night, a nonprofit that supports short film projects by local artists.
For Trulove, the nominations highlighted the global impact of artists cultivated within the Bay Area. “Oakland has shaped some of the most important voices in modern filmmaking,” Trulove said.
In his acceptance speech, Jordan expressed gratitude to everyone who believed “in this dream, this vision of Ryan Coogler’s,” his longtime collaborator on all his feature films, going back to “Fruitvale Station” in 2013.
Another historic moment at the ceremony came when the film’s cinematographer, Bay Area-reared Autumn Durald Arkapaw, became the first woman ever to win the Oscar for best cinematography. During her speech, she asked all the women in the Dolby Theatre to stand. “Because I don’t feel I get here without you guys,” she said.
While Coogler didn’t win the Oscar for best director — which would have made him the first Black filmmaker to do so — he was given the award for best original screenplay, becoming the second Black writer to be so honored, following Jordan Peele, who won in 2018 for “Get Out.”
Holding his Oscar at the podium, Coogler highlighted his Oakland and Richmond origins while explaining why he had a lot to say in the limited time allowed for acceptance speeches. “We can talk a lot!” he said.
At Bay Area watch parties, Coogler’s friends and colleagues “crossed their fingers” for accolades to rain down on everyone from the “Sinners” team. That included Ludwig Göransson, who won the Oscar for his atmospheric, blues-influenced score as well as other Oakland residents: Delroy Lindo, nominated for best supporting actor, and singer-songwriter Raphael Saadiq, nominated for best original song, “I Lied to You.”
Set in the 1930s, “Sinners” follows twin brothers Smoke and Stack who return from Chicago to their Mississippi hometown to open a juke joint. With all the action packed into a 24-hour period, the film explores religion, sexuality, death, racial oppression, the origins of the blues and the interplay of white, Indigenous and Black culture in American music and identity. Coogler has said that some narrative elements for “Sinners” came from stories he heard from his great uncle and other relatives who immigrated to Oakland and Richmond from the South.
U.S. Rep. Lateefah Simon, whose 12th congressional district includes Oakland, agreed that “Sinners” has succeeded in elevating Black stories, as told by Black storytellers. “In a time when forces are working feverishly to silence what Black stories can be, this Oscar win (for Coogler) is a declaration,” she said in a statement. “Real power belongs to those who create with uncompromising integrity.”
While Trulove and others expressed disappointment that “Sinners” didn’t win more Oscars, he said it “was still a beautiful night.” Guests at the Bay Area Film Night’s watch party at the Kissel Uptown Oakland hotel “cheered when we won.” Trulove also said that “celebrating Ryan Coogler during the Oscars is also about inspiring the next generation of storytellers who will come from this community.”
That next generation includes East Bay screenwriter and film educator Tajianna Okechukwu, who said it was “a joy to watch one of our own win Best Original Screenplay.” She also said she has been moved by Coogler saying that he’s been grateful to be recognized for “Sinners,” but that individual awards for him are not the point.
“The classiness and just the true artist Ryan is in making that statement about how (‘Sinners’) is not a win for me, the win is that I get to make a film,” Okechukwu said. “I just think about how revolutionary that is for artists to be in this world, to be able to do art as our employment. You know, that’s the dream for all of us.”
Anne Lai, executive director of SFFILM, agreed that it’s impactful for the local film community when someone like Coogler succeeds, because it builds interest in “who he is and where he came from.” The nonprofit produces the San Francisco International Film Festival and provides grants to aspiring filmmakers. That includes Coogler, who received two Rainin grants to help complete “Fruitvale Station,” his debut feature about the police killing of Oscar Grant.
Coogler followed up “Fruitvale Station” by bringing his unique vision to the successful Rocky and Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise films — “Creed,” “Black Panther” and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” — before returning to tell his own story with “Sinners,” Lai said.
“What we’ve witnessed as an audience but also as a film organization is this ambition and that with every film he’s been able to grow, not just in scope and ambition but he’s been able to explore original works,” Lai said. She noted that his ambition extends to starting the Proximity Media production company with his wife, which is now supporting “a lot of other significant work.”
and Ryan Coogler attend the 98th Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Julian Hamilton/Getty Images)
Coogler was expected to win the Oscar for best original screenplay. To Rosemary Graham, an emeritus English professor at St. Mary’s College in Moraga, this honor is a long time coming. Graham is often credited — and by Coogler himself — with encouraging him to consider a filmmaking career after he took a required English class from her in 2003. Coogler started at St. Mary’s as a chemistry major on a football scholarship, but Graham told him he had a gift for writing scenes after he turned in a routine assignment that showed an ability to convey action, emotion and a strong visual quality.
Over the years, Graham said, she has read all his screenplays and seen all his movies, including the student film he made for his M.F.A. thesis at University of Southern California. She has also seen “Sinners” five times.
“I think it’s genius,” Graham said. “I’m amazed by the blending together of the history of the Jim Crow South, the development of the blues and the Irish connection.”
Graham also cited a recent New York Times story, quoting Joy Connolly, the president of the American Council of Learned Societies, as saying that the $280 million domestic box office for “Sinners” demonstrates that Americans want to learn about their history, as painful and complicated as it can be.
“I’m enormously proud of and happy for Ryan and his wife, Zinzi, who produced ‘Sinners,’ and for their large and loving extended families who have nurtured and supported them all along the way,” Graham said.
