Time to the Target
A city far from the front, yet marked by war: Mansky reveals Lviv’s daily struggle that mirrors Europe’s own fears.
For nearly four years, Ukraine has resisted Russia’s brutal aggression. Far from the front lines, in Lviv, the illusion of peace proves fragile. Air raid sirens mark the seconds until missiles might strike, turning “time to the target” into a rhythm of fear and survival.
Vitaly Mansky – multi-award-winning filmmaker, a living classic of documentary cinema, and now based in Riga – returns to his hometown Lviv to observe how war seeps into everyday life in Ukraine’s most “European” city. Through changing seasons, the film follows rituals of endurance: a military brass band playing at countless funerals, elderly gravediggers preparing fresh graves daily, and citizens who live under constant threat and loss.
This is a long film, demanding patience rather than speed. Mansky’s slow, unbroken gaze reveals what quick reports cannot: the hidden drama of the rear, where tragedy and resilience coexist. “Time to the Target” is not a film to be consumed, but experienced – an invitation to surrender to its rhythm, and a reminder that today all of Europe lives under the same looming shadow of aggression.
Marianna Kaat
Vitaly Mansky (1963) was born in in Lviv, Ukraine. He graduated from VGIK in 1989 and has become one of the most prominent contemporary documentary filmmakers and producers. He has directed more than 30 films that have been screened at nearly every major festival worldwide and has received over 100 international awards. His documentary “Under the Sun” (2015) was screened at the PÖFF competition programme and won the Best Directing Award. In 2007, he founded and became the president of the International Festival of Creative Documentary Films Artdocfest in Russia. Its operation was suspended in 2022 due to the prevailing censorship and the invasion of Ukraine. He is currently being persecuted by Russian authorities for expressing his civic stance. In 2020, he founded and became the president of the International Documentary Film Festival Artdocfest/Riga in Latvia, having emigrated from Russia in 2014. Member of the American Film Academy (Oscars).
Filmograafia:
(Valik/Selected): Nasha rodina (Gagarin’s Pioneers, 2005, doc), Truba (Toru, 2013, doc), V lutšah solntsa (Päikese all, PÖFF 2015, doc), Close Relations (Suguvõsa, PÖFF 2016, doc), Svědkové Putinovi (Putini tunnistajad, PÖFF 2018, doc), Gorbachev. Heaven (Gorbatšov. Paradiis, PÖFF 2020, doc), Shidniy front (Idarinne, PÖFF 2023, doc, co-dir), Chas pidlotu (Time to the Target, 2025, doc)