Making her directorial debut, the actress stars in a sensitive dramedy about a woman living in the wake of an assault.

Barry Jenkins knew Eva Victor was a director before they did. Jenkins and his production company Pastel produced Victor's debut “Sorry, Baby,” which opens in New York and Los Angeles Friday and expands in the coming weeks.

It might just take another perspective on the subject—say, that of a comedian—to compel pop culture to expand its visual vocabulary for telling stories about it. Enter Eva Victor, whose feature debut,