On November 17, DGA members got a look at life present-day Afghanistan during the Special Projects Committee’s Global Cinema screening of Director Sonia Nassery Cole’s new dramatic feature film The Black Tulip.

Shot on location in Kabul, The Black Tulip is a portrayal of the travails of day-to-day life in war a zone through the eyes of the fictional Mansouri family. Taking advantage of the new freedoms after the fall of the restrictive Taliban, the Mansouris open a restaurant called The Poet’s Corner with an open microphone program designed to give voice to the voiceless and allow people to read poetry and tell their stories. But not everyone agrees with this new way of life and they find themselves increasingly under threat by residual factions of the Taliban.

After the screening, Cole (The Bread Winner) discussed the making of her film with Special Projects Global Cinema Committee Chair Victoria Hochberg (Bad Boy).