| Sonia Nassery Cole | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 3, 1963 Kabul, Afghanistan |
| Other names | Sonia Nassery |
| Occupation | Activist Film director Actress |
| Years active | 1994 – present |
| Spouse | Christoper Cole (divorced) |
| Website | |
| https://www.afghanistanworldfoundation.org | |
Sonia Nassery Cole (born March 3, 1963) is an Afghan-American activist, socialite, film director and actress.
Contents |
Early life [link]
Cole was born in Afghanistan, in the town of Kabul. She escaped the county during the Soviet occupation by walking into neighboring Pakistan, aided by a nomad across the desert which her parents had entrusted to guide her to safety.[1] She went to Islamabad, where her politically connected father saw her eventually move to the United States at the age of 17 and land a job with the United Nations.[2] She wrote to Ronald Reagan endlessly to help her country from the Soviet Union who agreed to meet her and accept her into the anti-Soviet elite.[2] At the age of 19, she organized a $1,000-a-plate fund-raiser with Reagan.[2] Her marriage to real-estate investor Christopher Cole also dramatically improved her connections with important politicians, diplomats and filmmakers along the way.[2]
Humanitarian work in Afghanistan [link]
In 2001, Cole returned to Afghanistan and established the Afghanistan World Foundation in 2002[3] which raised over $300,000 after two years, funding the construction of a hospital for women and children in Kabul, medical care for land-mine victims and other causes.[2] Cole primarily deals with improving the conditions for children in Afghanistan. Singer Natalie Cole is also active in the Afghan World Foundation cause and is a friend of Sonia.[1]
Film career [link]
Cole has made several appearances in film since 1994. In 2007 she directed the short film The Bread Winner.[4] In 2010, her film The Black Tulip was selected for screening as Afghanistan's entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 83rd Academy Awards,[5] but it didn't make the January shortlist.[6]
The film, which premiered at the Ariana Cinema Theater on September 23, 2010, but is without a distributor, is about a family in Kabul struggling to cope with a restaurant business after the fall of the Taliban regime.[7] Afghan attendees at the movie's premier in Kabul told a New York Times reporter that the film didn't depict the Afghanistan that they know and are familiar with. Amin Mokhtar, an employee of the Afghan Film Organization, balked at a funeral scene, in which mourners threw handfuls of earth into the graves, not an Afghan practice, he said. “The director (Cole) and workers grew up in America and don't know much about Afghan culture, that is the point.[8]
Personal life [link]
She currently resides in Beverly Hills and is now divorced from Christopher Cole, but retains his surname.[2][9] She often attends formal functions and is a socialite on the Los Angeles scene.
References [link]
- ^ a b "Interview with Sonia Nassery Cole". CNN. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eyyi9W4HuZ0. Retrieved December 10, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f Afghan Rebel. For more than 20 years, Sonia Nassery Cole has worked the society-gala circuit and the halls of Washington in aid of her native land. The Wall Street Journal. https://magazine.wsj.com/hunter/afghan-rebel/. Retrieved December 10, 2010.
- ^ Los Angeles Magazine, January 2004, p.138
- ^ Miami Film Festival
- ^ "2010-2011 Foreign Language Film Award Screening Schedule". https://www.oscars.org/members/screenings/scr_flfa/white.html. Retrieved 2010-12-20.
- ^ "9 Foreign Language Films Continue to Oscar® Race". oscars.org. https://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/2011/20110119.html. Retrieved 2011-01-19.
- ^ "Afghan Oscar contender aims to show more than war". Reuters. September 23, 2010. https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE68M2YZ20100923. Retrieved December 10, 2010.
- ^ Nordland, Ron, "Snickers Greet Premiere of Afghan Film", September 23, 2010, The New York Times, retrieved December 10, 2010
- ^ "Preview Party at Westime Rodeo Drive". People. https://people.timezone.com/mdisher/AP/APWestime1103.htm. Retrieved December 10, 2010.
