In Lviv, far from the front line, trams run, cafés open and weddings take place. Yet the war is never far away. Funeral processions move through the streets, a military band plays for the dead, and the cemetery steadily fills with new graves. As the seasons change, the city’s familiar routines unfold alongside rituals of mourning.
Returning to his hometown, documentary filmmaker Vitaly Mansky observes Lviv over an extended period, letting ordinary moments and public ceremonies speak for themselves. His patient camera follows a city where celebration and loss occupy the same streets, and where the threat of a missile strike can interrupt even the most peaceful morning. The title refers to the time a missile takes to reach its target: a measure of distance that has become a measure of daily uncertainty. Without easy answers or dramatic commentary, TIME TO THE TARGET asks what it means to live normally when grief has become part of the calendar. The film premiered in the Forum section of the 2025 Berlinale.