Biljana Garvanlieva was born in Skopje, Macedonia. After her studies at the Philology Faculties and Faculty of Drama Arts in Skopje, she received a DAAD scholar ship and continued studying in Tübingen and Berlin (Germany). After working as a Radio Journalist and Play writer for theatre, she acted as director. Her debut film "Macedonia Dream – A girl and her Accordion" won the most important German Short Film Award "Goldene Lola" as well as the German Axel-Springer-Award for young Journalists. The film received a Special Mention Award at Zagreb Dox Festival, the Golden Projector at Aster Fest Macedonian and the Gold Panda Award at the Sichuan TV Festival in China.