Set against the backdrop of Albania’s 1997 Albanian civil unrest, Luna Park traces the agonising journey of Mira, a single mother from Elbasan, Albania, and her young son Toni. Mira, desperate to secure a future, becomes entangled in high-risk investments and a brief romance with Berti, a charismatic figure behind a dubious financial scheme. As the nation descends into chaos following the collapse of pyramid schemes, mother and son are forced to flee. Their escape leads them to the Greek border, where danger and separation await. Alone in a foreign land, Toni embarks on a search for the father he never knew, finding a fragile sense of peace near the shuttered Luna Park, a haunting emblem of lost innocence and fragile hope in a fractured world.
The film directed by Florenc Papas, is an Albanian-Italian-Greek-Croatian-Kosovar co-production. It is produced by On Film Production, Lupin Film, Atalante Productions, Studio Corvus and Buka Production. The project was supported by National Center of Cinematography (Albania), the Greek Film Centre, Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, the Kosovo Cinematography Center and the SEE Cinema Network. It completed post production in September 2024.[4]
Davide Abbatescianni of Cineuropa at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, praised Luna Park for its strong performances and expressive technical execution. Abbatescianni highlighted Adriana Matoshi’s portrayal as marked by "self-aware despair," and noted that Orion Jolldashi "manages to convey both the strength and the fragility of a fatherless teenage boy" navigating trust and hope. Abbatescianni commended the stylised writing of Berti’s character, which "helps keep the viewers focused on Toni and his mother," emphasizing that the film is not a David and Goliath tale but "about collecting the remnants of what’s left and looking ahead before being sucked into a vortex of despair." Concluding his review, Abbatescianni lauded Durim Neziri’s production design and Simos Sarketzis’s cinematography for crafting a "gloomy atmosphere" and a vivid depiction of late-1990s Albania, while calling Matej Merlic’s score "a nice touch" that avoids over-dramatization.[7]
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