Romanian film review – The walking dead: Full Moon Film Festival

Vampires, movies, and countryside bliss: what more do you need for a lovely film festival in Transylvania? LunăPlină/Full Moon, having just ended its third edition this Sunday, is the only event in Romania dedicated to a particular film genre, a joy for all fans of fantastic and horror films. And even if you are not a die-hard fan, the location, the selection, and the general enthusiasm of the fest are great reasons to include Full Moon in your annual planning.

Organised by the Romanian Film Promotion (Asociația pentru Promovarea Filmului Românesc) and the tireless TIFF (Transilvania International Film Festival) team, Full Moon wants nothing more and nothing less than to provide a meeting and exchange point for genre buffs. The festival is also a great means to promote rural Transylvania, in this case the beautiful Saxon village of Biertan near Sibiu, and revive local theatres. And I cannot stress often enough how good and necessary it is to invest in initiatives outside of Bucharest, where most of Romania's cultural supply is concentrated.

This year's big winner was also the audience winner, and that's no wonder, because What We Doin the Shadows is a hilarious comedy about the daily challenges of being a vampire in a shared flat. Anyone who is familiar with the delightful work by New Zealand comedy duo Flight of the Concords(and yours truly is a devoted fan) knows that anything Jemaine Clement does must be good. In this case, he co-wrote, co-directed the film, and acted in it. Having Jemaine present at Biertan was simply the cherry on the cake.

The winner of the special mention is another vampire film, Summer of Blood, but this time it's neither an original nor a funny one. It's a strange choice for an award when the competition also included the tense and psychologically clever Coherence or the impressive and stylish