The journey the main characters go through reflect the director's reading of Mexican writer Octavio Paz's book El mono gramático discussion about the search for a meaning.

They are seemingly interested on the women but they abandon Tristeza and Esperanza after reaching the point where the road is blocked because they say they fear being attacked by Indigenous people.

The film is the first feature directed by Tania Hermida, who had worked as an assistant director for Proof of Life, Maria Full of Grace and Crónicas; the idea of Qué tan lejos came during a stay in Madrid in 1997.

[6] Filming took five weeks[5][7] in the second half of 2005[c] and was entirely done in Ecuador[6] across eight different provinces: Azuay, Cañar, Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, Guayas, Manabí, Pichincha, and Tungurahua.

[11] Ecuadorian newspaper La Hora said the film is "full of [...] nuances of irony about ourselves, about how we see ourselves and, through the character of the Spanish girl, about how we are seen from abroad".

"[i][11] Hermida tried to depict Ecuador "away from Latin American stereotypes of violence and drug trafficking" and instead of it tried to focus on Ecuadorian everyday life.

[4] According to La Hora, "Hermida used the everyday to reflect a series of behaviors that identify Ecuadorians" and highlighted how the "anonymous characters" help on it; for example, the presence of "the typical" taxi driver who charges foreigners with an excessive fee or the "vividness" of a girl who sells candy at bus stations.

[16] El Telégrafo stated the film reflected a country that had gone through a recent "dollarization", that "survived thanks to the phenomenon of migration" and was politically unstable.

[11] Another Ecuadorian newspaper, El Diario, also said the film "reflects a devastated, ungovernable country, but not from a tragic point of view, but with a touch of humor".

[8] A writer for El Diario stated the character of Esperanza depicts and regular tourist "amazed at the third world", while Tristeza, described as "intellectual and somewhat conceited", "reneges her land to the utmost".

[l][17] Screen Anarchy's Peter Martin commented how Teresa's introduction as Tristeza—which translates as "sadness" in English, to contrast to Esperanza's name, which means "hope"—was a demonstration of her "contrary nature in general".

[18] This remain true all their travel; while Esperenza is "resolutely positive" and appreciate the surroundings, Tristeza thinks she is "dangerously naive, too much of a tourist" and contradicts her with social or political commentary.

[18] Jesús works as the "wise figure" who provides lessons, according to El Diario, while Andrés embodies an upper-class stereotype.

[18] Qué tan lejos was not finished yet when it was first shown in October 2005 at the Cero Latitud Film Festival, where it won the Best Work in Progress Award.

[20][21] The film has its nationwide release on September 9, 2006;[21] it was a box office hit in the country,[20] premiering in fourteen screening rooms and playing for six months at the movies.

[17] In October 2006, at the São Paulo International Film Festival, Qué tan lejos was nominated for "New Directors" category,[23] and was among the 14 titles chosen to the Popular Jury Award.

[17] While he found the story to be "familiar" and the storytelling "traditional", Peter Martin of American website Screen Anarchy said that what "provides substance are the very engaging performances" of the two main actresses and the way Hermida inserts commentary on Ecuador and its racial and national prejudice.

[18] Nuria Vidal of Spanish magazine Fotogramas compared it to Alain Tanner's Messidor and Maria Novaro's Sin dejar huella but said it is better because it avoids being tragic or dramatic.

[36] In a retrospective analysis in 2013, the film has been considered of "great quality" and to be part of a revival in Ecuadorian cinema by Fabricio Cevallos, writing for La Hora.

[13] The newspaper affirmed Qué tan lejos "told us about ourselves, it showed us our [own] places, it put us in front of our [own] people, [and] it made us feel interculturality".