Born in Macedonia, Milcho Manchevski moved to New York after high school. Since graduating from the film programme at Southern Illionis University in 1981, Manchevski has worked as a writer/director in commercials, promotional films, documentaries, shorts and music videos. In 1985, he won the Best Experimental Film Award for "1.72" at the Belgrade Alternative Film Festival, and in 1986 his film "1.73" won the Best Film award at the Split Film Festival. Manchevski is also publsihed writer of fiction and has worked as a journalist. As of July 2001 www.manchevski.com.mk is his official web site.
"Before The Rain", Manchevski's first feature film, was nominated for Oscar. He says: "I find it easier to do feature films than short forms or performance art, probably because story telling comes naturally to me. For "Before The Rain" I just took three very simple stories, plots which have been around for hundreds of years - impossible love, unresolvable dilemma, and going home. A funny thing happened when there were applied to real people and when I played with the time factor. I think it is how we re-combine known elements that provides us with the possibility to be original."
In the year 2001, amidst the war starting in his native Macedonia, Manchevski finished his second feature, film Dust - the "Eastern" (because it is about the Wild East) commenting on the earlier Balkan Wars of 1912.
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