One of Working Mother’s Most Powerful Moms, Angelina Jolie, has made her directorial debut with the release of In the Land of Blood and Honey.  It is a difficult story to tell, set during the war in Bosnia in the 1990s, which tore apart the Balkans in a modern-day genocide. Jolie told reporters, after traveling to Bosnia and Herzegovina as a United Nations goodwill ambassador.

Jolie found herself researching the events of the wartime and kept notes in the form of a script. Eventually, she finished writing a film and, she believed the powerful story had to be told. Jolie told PBS’ To the Contrary host Bonnie Erbe she did not set out to be a director and, in fact, the credits read: “written and directed by Angelina Jolie” putting her writing credit first.

While she used a love story to illustrate the ethnic conflict between the Bosnians and the Serbs, she also used it to tell how women are often pawns of war, and how rape can be used as a weapon. She explains in this clip from PBS’s To The Contrary

In another part of the interview, Jolie, mom to six children (three are adopted and three are her biological children with her partner, actor Brad Pitt) tells how being a mom keeps her grounded. (video here)

Watch the full interview on PBS.

In the Land of Blood and Honey was shot on location with local actors. The film is subtitled in Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian. While the film was nominated for a Golden Globe award for best foreign language film, it did not win.

Find out more about women victims of war at Women for Women, an organization that helps women survivors of war rebuild their lives.