Milcho Manchevski’s “Sister Brother Manhole Cover” is competing at the Tokyo International Film Festival after years of delays that the North Macedonian filmmaker attributes to political retaliation. In an Oct. 31 report, Variety spoke with the director about the film’s troubled path and its focus on the bond between siblings.
The dark comedy follows Malina and Viktor, who survive by stealing bronze monuments and manhole covers to sell as scrap. After Viktor suffers a serious injury, Malina makes an arrangement with a corrupt doctor. The pair later flee and find refuge with his wealthy, blind mother, Todora.
Manchevski told Variety he wanted to explore sibling love without making either character exemplary. Their crimes and mistakes coexist with a fierce attachment to each other. Traditional Macedonian songs about sisterly devotion also helped inspire the story.
He rejects both sentimental depictions of poverty and the idea that determination alone can overcome it. The stolen monuments, in his reading, expose a society’s willingness to celebrate national ideals while neglecting people struggling to eat. Humor belongs alongside that hardship, he argues, rather than in a separate genre.
The director says the production was blocked after he reported alleged corruption at North Macedonia’s Film Agency. He told Variety he faced harassment, a smear campaign and criminal proceedings, and said he won two court cases against the agency.
This is Manchevski’s fourth appearance at the Tokyo festival; “Kaymak” competed there in 2022. His debut, “Before the Rain,” won Venice’s Golden Lion in 1994 and received an Oscar nomination.
The new film brings together producers from six countries, with Jane Kortoshev producing and Banana Film leading the production. Manchevski’s next project is “Homecoming,” which he describes as a story centered on regret and forgiveness.