Synopsis

"Time never dies. The circle is never round.“ These enigmatic words of an orthodox priest at the beginning of the film will prove to have a programmatic task. Violence circles through this storyline like a virus, adjusted to the logic of space and time, and combines three stories about love – more precisely, it connects an isolated monastery, a restaurant in London and a tiny Macedonian village. The young monk Kiril grants the Albanian girl Zamira, who is being tracked by armed men after allegedly committing a murder, a place to hide out. Anne, publisher at a photo agency in London, has an affair with Aleksandre, a Serbian-Macedonian war photographer, and wants to finally clear the air with her husband. To tell him the truth, she, unfortunately, picks the wrong place at the wrong time. Aleksandre, on the other hand, has to realise after returning to his home village that once peaceful neighbors have turned into hostile enemies. These three parts of one single story refer to each other not only by means of content but also of motifs. In a context of smoldering conflicts in the young country of Macedonia, Milcho Manchevski interweaves three plot lines, constructed of incisive words, faces and images, to one great, poetic film that moves you to the core. With his captivating directing debut, he was nominated for an Academy Award and won the Golden Lion in Venice.

Guests

Milcho Manchevski

Director Before the Rain
Lecturer Master Class