Most critics of Romanian cinema agree that it lacks films focusing on female protagonists, children and the LGBTQ community. With a strong career both as an actor (in Bogdan George Apetri’s Miracle [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Bogdan George Apetri
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intervista: Călin Peter Netzer
scheda film], among others) and a director-screenwriter (Mikado [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Emanuel Pârvu
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The screenplay, written by Pârvu and Berescu, follows Adi (newcomer Ciprian Chiujdea), a 17-year-old hailing from an isolated village in the Danube Delta. Thanks to some serious financial sacrifices from his parents, Adi studies in the nearby city of Tulcea, but the unconditional love the boy expects of his father (Bogdan Dumitrache, one of Romania’s go-to leading actors) and mother (Laura Vasiliu, still best known for her main part in Cristian Mungiu’s Palme d’Or winner 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Cristian Mungiu
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scheda film]) is denied him when the parents learn a difficult truth about their son.

The film was supported by the Romanian National Film Center. It was shot in September and October in the Danube Delta, with Silviu Stavilă serving as DoP. Supporting characters are played by Ingrid Micu-Berescu, Valeriu Andriuţă and Adrian Titieni.

Producer Miruna Berescu tells Cineuropa that it was difficult for her team to reach the isolated locations necessary for the shoot, but these sites were of paramount importance for her film. “We shot for almost one month with the entire team on location in the Danube Delta […]. It was interesting to try and strike the balance between the out-of-this-world beauty of these places and how difficult it was to reach them – for example, our main location, Sfântu Gheorghe, can only be reached by boat.” The producer also says that the beauty of the landscape “is in stark contrast with the events that happen so fast in our film”.

Emanuel Pârvu says that he was more interested in exploring a new perspective on a certain topic than in telling an LGBTQ story, per se. “The value of a story resides, in my opinion, in how you tell it. Each story has its own particularities: maybe it is set in another part of the world or focuses on Jews, persons of colour, Roma people or the gay community. These stories could show a perspective that nobody has thought of before […]. For example, in my film, my characters behave completely inadequately towards a child, and I had the opportunity to capture that.” The director also says that what prompted him to write the screenplay was the fact that “at some point, each of us could be considered as being part of a certain minority”.