Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy shares her path from making docs to directing ‘Ms. Marvel’

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Filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy won an Oscar in 2016 for her documentary short "A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness." In her latest project, Disney’s “Ms. Marvel,” she says, “Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel is a superhero who … is very much in line with the other characters that I had been filming throughout my career.” Photo by Danny Moloshok/Reuters.

Twice Academy Award winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy directed two episodes of Disney’s limited series “Ms. Marvel.” She shares with Kim Masters her path from making intimate documentary shorts in her home country of Pakistan, to animated features, to “Ms. Marvel” – her first live-action, narrative fiction series.

“I know what ‘Black Panther’ did for communities across the world. And this is exactly what ‘Ms. Marvel’ is going to do for South Asian communities,” says Obaid-Chinoy.

The mini series portays a teenage, Pakistani-American superhero, and within its first week on Disney+, it received a 97% score – the best reviewed Marvel series and film production on Rotten Tomatoes, a record previously held by “Black Panther.”  

The filmmaker also talks about how the real life heroes she has depicted over the years in documentary form are tied to “Ms. Marvel.” “Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel is a superhero who … is very much in line with the other characters that I had been filming throughout my career,” she explains, adding she desires to continue telling important stories in the future.  

But first, Bob Chapek’s latest miscalculated decision may have cost Disney subscribers. 

Credits

Host:

Kim Masters

Producer:

Joshua Farnham