Before the Rain

Before the Rain is a drama set amid rising ethnic and religious tensions in Macedonia, told through three interlocking stories that circle back on one another. In a monastery, a young monk who has taken a vow of silence shelters a young Albanian woman being pursued by men who believe she killed one of their own. In London, a pregnant photographic editor tries to sort out her marriage to her estranged Macedonian husband at an upscale restaurant. The third strand follows a Macedonian photographer who returns from London to his home village and finds old hatreds and blood feuds waiting for him among people he grew up with.

The film was written and directed by Milcho Manchevski, his first feature, followed in his filmography by Venice 70: Future Reloaded, Kaymak and Good People. It stars Katrin Cartlidge as Anne, Rade Šerbedžija as Aleksander, Grégoire Colin as Kiril, Labina Mitevska as Zamira, Phyllida Law as Anne's Mother and Silvija Stojanovska as Hana, among a credited cast of 26. Producers were Cat Villiers, Cédomir Kolar and Sam Taylor, with 49 credited crew.

Made for about 2 million USD as a co-production between the United Kingdom, Macedonia and France, the film holds a critics' rating of 8 out of 10 from 37 reviews, higher than its audience scores of 7.8 on IMDb from around 17,000 votes and 7.4 on TMDB from 193 votes.