Before the Rain (Pred doždot)

Today, the small church on Lake Ohrid, with which Milčo Mančevski opens his film about revenge and bloodshed at the end of the Yugoslav Wars, is one of "100 Places That Will Change Your Life" and graces the cover of National Geographic. In 1994, in Before the Rain, Mančevski sends war photographer Aleksander from London to his North Macedonian homeland, where his Pulitzer Prize, derided as "Putzila," is worthless. A girl is accused of killing a shepherd. A thriller unfolds around this girl and the monk under a vow of silence who is hiding her, a thriller from which Aleksander cannot remain neutral. The mere fact that he no longer smokes makes him highly suspect. His debut, to this day Mančevski's greatest success (Golden Lion in Venice), tells the story in three parts, with a circular dramatic structure and under the tension of an approaching thunderstorm, of a knot that can only be untied by brute force. (A.K.L.)

In cooperation with the cultural association Wer schaut denn da – Ko to tamo gleda