Three Kilometres to the End of the World

Three Kilometres to the End of the World (Trei kilometri până la capătul lumii) is a 2024 Romanian drama film, directed by Emanuel Pârvu and written by Miruna Berescu and Pârvu.

The film had its world premiere at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, on 17 May 2024, where it was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or and won the Queer Palm.

Plot
Adi, 17 years, is spending the summer in his home village in the Danube Delta. One night he is brutally gaybashed on the street, the next day his world is turned upside-down. His parents no longer look at him as they did, and the seeming tranquillity of the village starts to crack.

Cast

 * Ciprian Chiujdea as Adi
 * Laura Vasiliu as The Mother
 * Bogdan Dumitrache as The Father
 * Ingrid Micu-Berescu as Ilinca
 * Valeriu Andriuță as The Police Chief
 * Adrian Titieni as The Priest

Production
The film was shot in the Danube Delta, more precisely in the Sfântu Gheorghe branch and the Dunavăț canal, during September and October 2023.

Release
The film was selected for the Main Competition for the Palme d'Or at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where it had its world premiere on 17 May 2024.

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 73% based on 11 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 61 out of 100, based on 7 critic reviews indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Wendy Ide of Screen Daily wrote that Parvu "is confident enough as a storyteller not to feel the need to show everything. Not only do we not see the assault itself, only its aftermath when Adi stumbles home, but Parvu also lets Adi drift out of the frame during the charged nighttime conversation with the tourist. It’s a smart device – the film is Adi’s story, of course. But it’s also that of his parents (played by Bogdan Dumitrache and Laura Vasiliu), who struggle to see their actual son behind the distorting lens of who and what they believe he should be."