Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy guest on new season of When Life Gives You Lemons

Season four of When Life Gives You Lemons has launched with film director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy as the first guest.

The double Academy award winning director gives her first podcast interview on the difficulties faced being the first female, and person of colour to direct the highly acclaimed new Star Wars feature film.

Host Emma Levy delves into the criticism Obaid-Chinoy has faced since her appointment.

Some social media critics criticised the decision of her appointment as ‘woke’ after Obaid-Chinoy said: “We’re in 2024 now, and it’s about time that we had a woman come forward to shape a story in a galaxy far, far away.”

Speaking to Emma, Sharmeen defends her position of her success as a film maker and reveals how her position led her to influence changes in legislation on honour killings in Pakistan.

Obaid-Chinoy was driven to tell stories from a very young age when she first realised there was vast inequality in the world.  She describes how as a child; it made her angry and that anger led to questions no one wanted to answer. 

As a ‘difficult woman’ who never took no for an answer, it has allowed her to have a career in which she has kicked open doors which have previously been closed for women.

She explains: “I want to leave a legacy behind for other young women; teach them that they can break glass ceilings, know that they can direct big budget Hollywood films, know they can win academy awards, open doors for other women and plant the seeds for the next generation of film makers and story tellers.”

The first episode of season four’s When Life Gives You Lemons is available now on all major podcast platforms.