- Milcho Manchevski was supposed to direct Ravenous (1999) for 20th Century Fox, but had to leave the production because of 'creative differences' with Fox 2000 president and executive Laura Ziskin (1950-2011).
- Before the Rain (1994) was the first film in Macedonian language and the first film from the new country of Macedonia to be distributed in over 50 countries. It won over 30 international awards and was named 'Film of the Year' in Sweden, Argentina and Turkey.
- He used to teach Directing at NYU's Tisch School Graduate Program, but is now teaching at Brooklyn College's Feirstein Graduate School.
- The New York Times named Before the Rain One of the Best 1,000 Films Ever Made.
- Named Ingmar Bergman Krzysztof Kieslowski, Roman Polanski, Sam Peckinpah, Todd Solondz, and avant-garde artists Stan Brakhage, Michael Snow among his favorite filmmakers.
- Jude Law was the runner-up for the part of young monk Kiril.
- In 1997 he was supposed to direct Three Kings (1999) for Warner Brothers, but left the project due to disagreements about the filming locations.
- Won awards for best experimental film in 1986 and 2017 at Belgrade Alternative Film Festival and in Aspen, CO.
- Before the Rain (1994) was almost canceled, when two weeks into production, one of the financiers, Channel 4 of UK pulled out of the project. British Screen Finance (aka 'British Screen') stepped up and helped complete the film. Director Milcho Manchevski credits Simon Perry, the Chief Executive of 'British Screen' from 1991 to 2000, with saving his film and thanked him in his acceptance speech when he received the 'Golden Lion' at the 'Venice International Film Festival 1994'.
- Milcho Manchevski has cameos in all of his films - in photographs. In Before the Rain (1994) he is the victim of a point-blank execution, in Dust (2001) he is the stern mother of teenage Luke and Elijah, in Shadows (2007) he is on Lazar's screen saver, in Mothers (2010), he is a basketball player dunking the ball on a monitor in a sport store, and in Bikini Moon (2017), he is on Krishna's t-shirt.
- Photographs and photographers are always prominently featured in all of Manchevski's films.
- His films always begin with a shot of tomatoes (in a monastery garden, on a New York deli newsstand, on a computer screen) or feature tomatoes later in the story (a bottle of tomato juice).
- Milcho Manchevski started publishing fiction at the age of 13, after winning a national award (presented by Manchevski's hero, the Nobel-Prize winning author Ivo Andric).
- President of the 'Pardi di domani' Jury, Locarno International Film Festival 2015.
- The casting and selection process for Bikini Moon (2017) took almost two years.
- Bikini Moon (2017) was filmed in a rigorous, documentary manner.
- Even though he has been living in New York since 1985, all of his films before Bikini Moon (2017), which was shot on location in New York City, were made in Europe.
- His interest in the clashing and overlapping nature of fiction and documentary is apparent in Mothers (2010), Thursday (2013), Bikini Moon (2017), as well as essays and books including but not limited to: "Why I Like Writing and Hate Directing" and "Truth and Fiction: Notes on (Exceptional) Faith in Art.".
- Manchevski shot a short film while teaching in Cuba, The End of Time. "A study of the everyday and the secret deliverance that lies waiting, while no one is looking," wrote Mike Hoolboom. The 5-1/2 minute experimental film screened at more than 30 festivals to great acclaim, winning several awards, including the Ellen Award at Aspen Shortsfest.
- Member of the 'Official Competition' jury at the 20th Shanghai International Film Festival in 2017.
- Before the Rain contains quotations from William Shakespeare's plays "Romeo and Juliet", "Hamlet" and "MacBeth".
- A scene of the young monk Kiril in civilian clothes arriving in front of his uncle Aleksandar's building in London right after Aleksandar has left for the airport was filmed but ultimately cut from the film.
- This film is part of the Criterion Collection, spine #436.
- The US and international posters (but not the French and Macedonian posters) are based on a still from a scene that was cut from the final version of the film.
- Director and writer Milcho Manchevski compared the circular dramatic structure of Before the Rain to Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher's drawings and called it "an optical illusion in time".
- Many viewers are taken by the "optical illusion in time". Before the Rain appears to have a circular nature, with Part 2 chronologically first, followed by parts 3 and 1. But on closer inspection some events from Part 1 precede events in Part 2 (in her London office, Ann looks at photographs of Zamira's death). This playful aspect of the film was meticulously and intentionally developed in the script. It reflects on the film motto: The Circle Is Not Round.
- The spectacular monastery in Part 1 (Words) is actually a composite of five different monasteries across Macedonia. The beautiful church on the cliff overseeing the lake was filmed in two 14th century locations (interior and exterior). The finale was shot on two different locations, a month apart: the scene of Alexander death was first filmed under a solitary tree on a hill near Prilep, and then, a month later, the reverse angle, looking at the sheepfold was filmed near Stip.
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