The European Film Festival is turning 18 this year. Organised by the Romanian Cultural Institute, the fest has gone through good and difficult times (especially during the last two years, when the institute faced massive changes in financing and staffing and became a political issue) and it's good to see it “come of age”, to quote this year's official festival motto. The fest kicked off yesterday and will end on May 18.

The project is neither as glamurous as TIFF or as specialised as One World Romania or niche festivals but offers a colourful, eclectic trip through Europe and this is also its strongest asset. It's an unabashedly fun festival, especially from the point of view of the selection: I can't think of any other festival in Romania, apart from Comedy Cluj, screening so many comedies and audience darlings.

It may be quite mainstream but if one looks at the pathetically small number of cinema-goers in this country, it's the best and most exciting way of luring audiences into theatres. There's family comedies (Adieu Berthe – L'enterrement de mémé/Granny's Funeral), coming-out comedies (Les garçons et Guillaume, à table!/Me, Myself and Mum), rom-coms (Una pistola en cada mano/A Gun in Each Hand) and - why not - mob comedies (È stato il figlio/It Was the Son).

Don't be fooled by the 'easier' fare though, it also shows some of the most stark and artistically ambitious productions of the past years. The so-called Greek New Wave is particularly well-represented: I aionia epistrofi tou Antoni Paraskeva/The Eternal Return of Antonis Paraskevas, Miss Violence and September are disturbing and truly admirable films.

Romanian pics are also a must, of course, and besides the section dedicated to Adrian Sitaru's short films, which are all very much recommended, you can also watch the atmospheric La limita de jos a cerului/The Unsaved, the gentle Cântece pentru un muzeu/Songs for a Museum and Vlad Petri's recent documentary on the social and political turmoils in Bucharest (București, unde ești?/Where Are You, Bucharest?).

And as an absolute bonus, you can catch Manoel de Oliveira's 2010 dreamy O Estranho Caso de Angélica/The Strange Case of Angelica. Oliveira is turning 106 (!) this year and has no intention of slowing down. Judging by his last pictures, that's an excellent decision.

The festival takes place and Bucharest and Târgu Mureș, which is even more delightful; you know how happy I am to see other cities than Bucharest host cultural events, especially when cinema screenings are involved. It's a shame though that the other cities of the previous editions were cancelled (Brașov, Timișoara, Iași), I can only hope they'll be back on board in the following years.

By Ioana Moldovan, columnist, ioana.moldovan@romania-insider.com