Oscar-Winning Pakistani filmmaker creates history being first woman to direct Star Wars movies
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Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, a Pakistan-born Canadian filmmaker, has made history by becoming the first woman and first person of colour to ever direct a Star Wars movie.
Studio executives on Friday announced that Walt Disney Co has plans for three new Star Wars movies, including one to be directed by Obaid-Chinoy, with the first slated for release in 2025.
Obaid-Chinoy, who has two Oscars for documentaries denouncing violence against women, said she was “drawn to the hero’s journey” in the Star Wars universe.
“I have always been attracted to the hero's journey and the world needs more heroes! The blueprints of the heroes we see on screen should be rooted in reality — I’ve spent my life meeting real-life heroes, people who have overcome the most oppressive empires and battled impossible odds and that to me is the heart of Star Wars, which is why I was attracted to the promise of a new Jedi Order," she said in an Instagram post.
Obaid-Chinoy will direct a film set 15 years after the end of the last movie, in which British actor Daisy Ridley will reprise her role of Rey, the heroine of the last trilogy, in a story set after the 2019 film, The Rise of Skywalker.
The new film will follow Rey’s efforts to revive the Jedi order.
The director is known for her films that portray the struggles of women and highlight inequality in society. She has won the Oscar for 'Best Documentary, Short Subject' twice, once for 'Saving Face', a film about acid attacks in Pakistan, and once for 'Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness', about honour killings.
Obaid-Chinoy directed last year’s Ms Marvel television series featuring a Muslim superhero.
Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm, the studio bought by Disney in 2012, said each of the three films would cover different periods in the Star Wars narrative. And each will have a different director.
James Mangold, a two-time Oscar nominee, will helm another of the films after directing the latest in the Indiana Jones series, which is set for release later this year.
His film will look at the origins of the Jedi order, thousands of years before the original storyline.
The third film will be directed by Dave Filoni, who has produced several television series including the wildly successful The Mandalorian, now in its third season.