Students from across Europe chose THREE KILOMETERS TO THE END OF THE WORLD by Romanian director Emanuel Pârvu to win the European University Film Award (EUFA) 2024. Introduced in 2016, the award, a joint initiative of the European Film Academy and FILMFEST HAMBURG, is presented by university students from across Europe. Since October, five nominated films, based on the European Film Awards’ Feature and Documentary Film Selections 2024, have been viewed and discussed at 21 universities in 21 countries before each institution selected its favourite film. In early December, one student representative from each university attended a three-day deliberation meeting in Hamburg to decide on the overall winner. The winner was announced at today’s Mayor’s Night in Lucerne, the evening before the European Film Awards Ceremony on 7 December. |
The jury says: “The film deconstructs the mechanisms of ostracism, a worldwide problem penetrating societal and institutional structures. With the effective use of resources, the director brilliantly utilised the Romanian landscape to portray the devastating impact of homophobia. Despite decades of activism and political action, queer communities continue to be marginalised by normative society. The film invites the broader European audiences to look beyond their urban horizons and to reflect on the neglected peripheries, where bigotry transcends legislations, and humanity transcends bigotry.” The aim of this joint initiative by the European Film Academy and FILMFEST HAMBURG is to involve a younger audience, to spread the European idea and to transport the spirit of European cinema to an audience of university students. It shall also support film dissemination, film education and the culture of debating. THREE KILOMETRES TO THE END OF THE WORLD (TREI KILOMETRI PÂNA LA CAPATUL LUMII) Romania DIRECTED BY Emanuel Pârvu WRITTEN BY Emanuel Pârvu, Miruna Berescu PRODUCED BY Miruna Berescu |