Background
Cole was born in Afghanistan, daughter of an Afghan diplomat, in the town of Kabul.
Cole was born in Afghanistan, daughter of an Afghan diplomat, in the town of Kabul.
She landed a job with the United Nations. From the Soviet Union she wrote to Ronald Reagan to help her country. He agreed to meet her and accept her into the anti-Soviet elite, and at age 19 she organized a fund-raiser with Reagan.
Sonia also befriended singer Natalie Cole while she was working with the Afghan World Foundation.
Cole has made several appearances in film since 1994. In 2010, her film The Black Tulip was selected as Afghanistan"s official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 83rd Academy Awards.
The film, which premiered at the Ariana Cinema Theater on September 23, 2010 and screened at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization base as well as an American Embassy, and distributed by SnagFilms, is about a family in Kabul opening a restaurant business after the fall of the Taliban regime. The film received press in New York Times, New York Observer, National Broadcasting Company, and American Broadcasting Company.
In 2007, she directed the short film The Bread Winner. The film won "best picture" awards in Boston Film Festival, Beverly Hills Film Festival, and Salento Film Festival. In 2013, she received the Freedom to Write Award from Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists and Novelists association Center United States of America.
