Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is a two-time Academy Award and multiple Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, journalist, and founder of SOC Films. She is also the founder of Patakha Pictures, a film fund dedicated to mentoring and supporting women filmmakers in Pakistan, and she leads the Neela Asmaan Residency, an artist residency programme dedicated to supporting creative practitioners from the Global South. She has been recognised with numerous honours, including the Hilal-e-Imtiaz, Pakistan’s second-highest civilian award, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, and she was awarded The Eliasson Global Leadership Prize of The Tällberg Foundation for ‘Leadership in a Disrupted World’. She continues to shape global conversations through storytelling-bridging cultures, championing new voices, and redefining the power of narrative. In 2020, Sharmeen co-directed the ‘Ms. Marvel’ series for Disney+, bringing a Muslim superhero to the big screen. In 2023 it was announced that she would direct one of three new Star Wars films, making her the first woman and person of colour to direct an episode.