23 May, 2000, Republic of Macedonia

Following a two-week shoot in New York, filming has resumed on Milcho Manchevski's time-shifting ballad, Dust, starring Joseph Fiennes (Enemy at the Gates, Shakespeare in Love, Elizabeth), David Wenham (The Boys), Anne Brochet (Cyrano de Bergerac, Tous les Matins du Monde) and Adrian Lester (Love's Labour's Lost, Primary Colours).

Dust is Manchevski's second feature, following his Oscar-nominated debut Before the Rain, winner of the Golden Lion at Venice in 1994. The tale of two brothers who fall in love with the same woman, Dust spans the 20th century, from the fall of the Ottoman Empire to the pinnacle of the Empire State Building at the beginning of the new millenium.

In the early 1900s, Luke (Wenham) leaves his brother Elijah (Fiennes) and Elijah's new wife Lilith (Brochet) in the American West and travels to the Balkans where he becomes a mercenary in a dirty war. Meanwhile, in contemporary New York, a desperate robber (Lester) tries to part an elderly woman (Rosemary Murphy) from her life savings. But Angela won't give up her hoard of gold coins until he's listened to her story of two brothers who fell for the same woman a long time ago...

Recently joining the cast are Tony nominated and Emmy winning American actress Rosemary Murphy (Mighty Aphrodite, Julia and To Kill a Mockingbird) and award-winning Macedonian stage actress Nikolina Kujacha who previously appeared in Michael Winterbottom's Welcome to Sarajevo. Well-known Macedonian actors Vlado Jovanovski, Josef Josifovski (Before the Rain) and Saludin Bilal round out the cast.

Dust is shooting in Southern and Eastern Macedonia until early July when the production moves to Germany for a further two weeks in the studio. Locations in Macedonia include the medieval bridge at Zovic and the ancient Orthodox monastery at Treskavec. An extensive build is planned for two major action sequences, including the construction of a Byzantine church at Stavica.

Produced by Chris Auty, Domenico Procacci and Vesna Jovanoska, Dust is a Film Consortium presentation of a History Dreams/ena Film/Fandango production in association with the European Co-Production Fund, BSkyB, NRW (Filmstiftung North Rhine Westphalia), the Film Council, the Macedonian Ministry of Culture, Shadow Dooel and Southfork Pictures. Post-production will take place in London and the film will be completed in early 2001. The Sales Company is handling international sales.