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Will I Live Tomorrow?: One Woman's Mission to Create an Anti-Taliban Film in War-Torn Afghanistan
Author(s): Sonia Nassery Cole (Author)
- Publisher: BenBella Books
- Publication Date: 1 Oct. 2013
- Language: English
- Print length: 224 pages
- ISBN-10: 9781939529145
- ISBN-13: 9781939529145
Book Description
After 9/11, Cole wrote The Black Tulip, based on a true story of a real Afghan family. The plot was simple: After 2001, when the Taliban was routed, an Afghan family opened The Poet’s Corner—a restaurant with an open microphone for all to read poetry, perform music, and tell their stories. But the Taliban didn’t approve, and the family’s new-found hope proved fleeting as it struggled to maintain the restaurant and its vibrant way of life. Selected as Afghanistan’s official submission for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 2010 Academy Awards, The Black Tulip is a modern portrait of Afghanistan that captures the plight and resilience of its people.
Without financial support from a studio or anyone else, Cole self-financed the film by mortgaging her home and selling her belongings. Then, with everything on the line, she left for Kabul to make the impossible possible and set out to gather the right people who would risk their lives and willingly be part of the production.
In Will I Live Tomorrow?, Cole gives an intimate look into what went on behind the scenes of making a controversial film in the heart of a war-ravaged country—the looming terror the Taliban creates among Afghans everywhere and the challenges and fear the cast and crew faced every day.
Will I Live Tomorrow? is a memoir about one woman’s struggle to make a difference in a violent world.
Editorial Reviews
Review
Marianne Williamson, New York Times bestselling author
“An amazing read, with beautiful illustrations in the midst of despair.”
“With great determination to expose the dangers of women’s lives in Afghanistan, the author
courageously placed herself in harm’s way in order to speak for all the women who struggle daily to survive. This tale of desperation and hope is a compelling read.”
“Sonia Cole recounts the making of her film
The Black Tulip, the first feature film ever made by a woman in war zone Afghanistan and one of the first films made in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban. It’s a dramatic story she tells with great passion.”Peter L. Bergen, author, Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden, from 9/11 to Abbottabad
“
Will I Live Tomorrow? is an amazing account of turning a dream into a reality. Sonia Cole had to be part-filmmaker, part-politician, part-psychologist, and part-general in order to pull off a miracle in pursuit of an artistic endeavor.”Roger Birnbaum, co-chairman and CEO, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc.
“A gripping eyewitness account of today’s Afghanistan killing fields.
A firsthand narrative of a harrowing adventure within a death-defying experience amid the flames and fanaticism of the Taliban war.”
“At great risk, we told a story about the real-life terrors of living inside the war in Afghanistan while enduring those actual fears and dangers ourselves.”
“
Will I Live Tomorrow? is defining our future. A brilliant and riveting work that warns the world if people of conscious and reason will not act for the sake of justice, Afghan history and culture will be hijacked by the Taliban. Brave, powerful, and a revelatory piece.”Farid Younos, author, university lecturer, women’s rights activist, and Afghan-American television personality
About the Author
The president invited her to Washington, D.C., and she worked with him to get congressional authorization for intervention in Afghanistan. Since then, Cole has actively worked with various organizations and committees set up for the improvement of the conditions and quality of life in Afghanistan. Among these is the Afghanistan Relief Committee, set up by past U.S. ambassadors to Afghanistan. In response to the urgency of humanitarian relief required in Afghanistan following Western military intervention post 9/11, Cole founded the Afghanistan World Foundation (AWF). The AWF has worked with various other organizations on making healthcare and education more accessible to Afghan children.
Her film
The Black Tulip was Afghanistan’s official submission to the 2010 Academy Awards and releases in the United States on October 26, 2012. The film has premiered in prestigious film festivals all over the world.
