Mano Khalil grew up in the 1960s Syrian Kurdistan in a small Kurdish family understanding no Arabic. His mother is from Turkish Kurdistan, and his father from Syrian Kurdistan. He went to an Arabic school where Kurdish was absolutely forbidden.  

After graduating from high school, he went on to study history and law at Damascus University in Syria. He then moved to former Czechoslovakia to study fiction film directing. After college, he stayed and got a job  as an  independent film director for Czechoslovakian and later for the Slovakian Television.

Since 1996, he's lived in Switzerland, working as independent film director and producer. In 2012, founded Frame Film Production in Bern.

His films include: Oh World! (1988), My Pain, My Hope (1989), Embassy (1990), My God (1990), Oh Father (1991), The Place where God Sleeps (1992, doc.), Kino-ocko (Kino Eye,1995, doc.), Triumph of Iron (1999), Colorful Dreams (2003), Al-Anfal, in the Name of Allah, Baath and Saddam (2005, doc.), David the Tolhildan (2007, doc.), My Prison, My Home (2009, doc.), Our Garden of Eden (2010, doc.), Der Imker/The Beekeeper (2013, doc.), Die Schwalbe (The Swallow, 2014).