Chas pidlotu

Time to the Target

Forum 2025

The “time to target” refers to how long a rocket needs to reach its target. Even far away from the front, the Ukrainian population is not safe from military attacks. Not safe from death, destruction and the consequences on society of a war of attrition. Lviv in western Ukraine, birthplace of director Vitaly Mansky, is struggling to retain a degree of normality, albeit without letting the daily losses of war become routine. The springtime bustle of the city’s historical centre and its rush hour, city tours and rallies, school lessons and coffee house noise is interrupted by bells of mourning and minutes of silence again and again. The city cemetery fills up with flags and wooden crosses. Over one year, the film accompanies the musicians of a military orchestra, veterans and civilians in how they make it through their everyday lives – with heart, wit and the courage to face a merciless reality. One spring and one year of war later: new recruits are deployed. The circle closes. And it becomes painfully clear that peace refers to nothing but the time before a rocket hits.

by Vitaly Mansky (Director, Screenplay) Latvia / Czechia / Ukraine 2025 Ukrainian 179' Colour World premiere | Documentary form

Crew

Director	Vitaly Mansky
Screenplay	Vitaly Mansky
Cinematography	Roman Petrusyak, Aleksey Leskov, Vitaly Mansky
Editing	Matvey Troshinkin
Sound Design	Jan Čeněk
Producer	Natalia Manskaia
Co-Producers	Filip Remunda, Tereza Horska, Vit Klusak, Natalia Khazan, Jan Barta

Produced by

Vertov

Riga, Latvia

Co-produced by

Braha Production Company

Dnipro, Ukraine

Hypermarket Film

Prag, Czechia

Photos

Vitaly Mansky

Vitaly Mansky was born in 1963 in Lviv, Ukraine. After obtaining his higher education in Moscow in 1989, he became one of the most prominent contemporary documentary filmmakers. His films have been screened at film festivals worldwide and he has received over 100 international awards. In 2007, he founded the International Festival of Creative Documentary Films Artdocfest in Russia. In 2014, he emigrated to Latvia. He is still being persecuted by Russian authorities for expressing his stance on civil rights. Mansky is the president of the IDFF Artdocfest/Riga and a member of the American Film Academy (Oscars).

Filmography (documentaries)

1988 Boomerang; short documentary 1990 Post; short documentary · Etudes About Love; short documentary, 1990-1993 1991 Lenin’s Body; short documentary 1993 Cuts of a Recurrent War; short documentary 1995 Bliss 1999 Private Chronicles. Monologue 2001 Putin. Leap Year · Yeltsin. Another Life · Gorbachev. After The Empire 2002 Broadway. Black Sea 2003 Anatomy of T.a.T.u. 2005 Gagarin’s Pioneers 2006 Wild, Wild Beach 2008 Dawn / Sunset. Dalai Lama 14 · Virginity 2009 Beginning / Nikolina Gora. Epilogue 2011 Motherland or Death 2013 Pipeline 2014 The Book 2015 Under the Sun 2016 Radinieki (Rodnye (Close Relations)) 2018 Putina liecinieki (Putin’s Witnesses) 2020 Gorbačovs. Paradīze (Gorbachev. Heaven) 2023 2020 · Shidniy front (Eastern Front) 2024 Dzelzs (Iron) 2025 Chas pidlotu (Time to the Target)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2025