Among the most notable entries to the 2011 Academy Awards is a still-little known film by the name of “The Black Tulip.” The movie, a dramatic story of a middle-class Afghan family terrorized by the Taliban in modern Afghanistan, is an anomaly in many ways.
For one, it’s Afghanistan’s official submission for best foreign film for the 2011 Academy Awards. If it is nominated and wins, it will be the first time in history that Afghanistan has won. It was also made by a woman, Sonia Nassery Cole, whose remarkable journey to make a feature film in Afghanistan is no less dramatic than the fictional tale that she wrote, directed, and stars in. Notably, she ended up playing a major role in the film because the actress she’d chosen had both feet cut off by the Taliban after starring in an unrelated film that was anti-Taliban.
Cole is not only a deft story-teller, but she knows and loves the Afghanistan that was and could be. She escaped Afghanistan as a very young woman when it was being terrorized by the Soviets and maintains dual citizenship.
“The Black Tulip” is currently showing a limited release in Los Angeles through Wednesday, Jan 5th with showtimes at 1:00pm: http://www.laemmle.com/viewtheatre.php?date=12302010&thid=2
More about the movie can be seen at BreadwinnerFilms.com.