Vampires, movies, and countryside bliss: what more do you need for a lovely film festival in Transylvania? Lună Plină/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 Do in 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 Sonno profondo/Deep Sleep. However, Bryn Chainey's children's film Moritz und der Waldschrat/ Moritz and the Woodhouse, which won the award for Best Short Film, was by far the most accomplished film in a competition which was mixed at best.

The Romanian section was not the strongest, unfortunately, the genre has still to be perfected, but the classics presented in the “American Masters”, “Cult”, and “Classics” sections are to die for: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is an absolute must-see slasher and the 1922 Swedish vampire film Häxan/Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages is a wonderful mixture of documentary and fiction about witchcraft trials in the Middle Ages. Seeing it on a big screen was a revelation but for those who missed it: it's also on YouTube in full lentgh.

To end on the most entertaining note, the musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show is simply one of the most delicious, camp, and funky cult films out there. And what better film to screen at Biertan than one featuring a character calling himself a “sweet transvestite from transsexual Transylvania”?

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

(photo source: Full Moon Festival on Facebook)