Tokyo 2026 Exclusive: SISTER BROTHER MANHOLE COVER Poster Premiere
The 39th edition of the Tokyo International Film Festival will host the world premiere of Sister Brother Manhole Cover, the latest feature from Macedonian filmmaker Milcho Manchevski, in its main Competition.
Set on the outskirts of post-Communist Macedonia, the film follows Malina and Viktor, a sister and brother living at the margins of society. They survive by stealing bronze busts of national heroes and melting them down for scrap, turning the discarded symbols of a failed social order into a livelihood in order to make ends meet
When a routine theft leaves Viktor badly injured, Malina strikes a desperate bargain with a corrupt doctor. The siblings are pushed into a flight through scrapyards, mountain roads, and abandoned industrial zones before finding an unlikely refuge in the opulent home of the doctor’s blind mother.
What begins as a picaresque road movie gradually contracts into a chamber drama, bringing the siblings’ fierce loyalty into collision with questions of guilt, responsibility, and the compromises demanded by survival. Manchevski combines social satire, crime, farce, and fairy-tale elements in a story that refuses to romanticize either poverty or rebellion.
The filmmaker describes the project as “glocal”, rooted in the particular social reality of Macedonia while addressing the universal experience of family, inequality, and institutional failure. Its central relationship is one of unconditional, non-romantic love between two difficult antiheroes who refuse to see themselves merely as victims.
Sister Brother Manhole Cover marks Manchevski’s return to Tokyo following Kaymak, which premiered at the festival in 2022. His feature debut Before the Rain won the Golden Lion at Venice and received an Academy Award nomination.
Sara Klimoska and Filip Trajkovikj lead the cast, joined by Sonja Mihajlova, Dejan Lilich, Petar Mirchevski, Stefan Nikolovski, Jordan Simonov, Jasmina Vasileva, and Marina Pop Pankova. Manchevski wrote and directed the film. Stefano Falivene served as director of photography, David Munns as production designer and Blagoja Nedelkovski as editor.
The official synopsis: The darkly comic film follows a brother and sister scraping by on the margins in Macedonia. With rebellious swagger, they steal bronze busts and manhole covers to survive. Their unruly journey leads them to a rich, blind old woman whose toughness and generosity force them to confront questions of morality and devotion.
Take an exclusive first look at the poster below.
