Luna Park (1992 film)

Luna Park (Russian: Луна-парк; 1992) is a Franco-Russian produced film. The second feature film of Russian director Pavel Lungin, it depicts the story of a young antisemitic skinhead leader, Andrei Leonov (Andrei Gutin) who is forced to come to terms with the discovery that his father, Naoum Kheifitz (Oleg Borisov) is of Jewish ancestry . The film, of the chernukha (Russian: чернуха, roughly "black stuff"), genre, follows Andrei as he explores his heritage and the relationship he begins with his father.

Luna Park was shown at the Toronto Festival of Festivals on September 13, 1992 (1992-09-13), and was released in New York in January 1994.

It was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival. The composer Isaak Schwarz won a Nika Award from the Russian Academy of Cinema Arts and Sciences for the film's music.

Set in a post-perestroika, post-Soviet Moscow, "Luna Park" follows the main character Andrei Leonov (Andrei Guntin) in his struggles to figure out who he is. At the beginning of the film, we see him as a young antisemitic skinhead bodybuilding leader of a group called "The Cleaners" who are set on purging Russia of anyone they deem unsuitable to the Russian bloodline, including, Jews, homosexuals, foreigners and mentally challenged individuals. The opening scene depicts a crowd of skinheads waving Russian flags and fighting a gang of bikers who they believed have succumbed to western influence and ideology. "The Cleaners" live in Luna Park, an amusement park, with wild roller coasters, and distorting mirrors and regularly head out into Moscow to cause chaos and destruction.