2017 marked 25 years since the end of communist rule in Albania. Once considered the "North Korea of Europe”, the country was isolated under a brutal regime, following centuries of occupation by the Ottoman Empire, Italy and Nazi Germany. These shifting influences have left Albania with something of an identity crisis as it adapts its historic alignment with the East to a new Europe dominated by the West. This project looks at Albania today, ostensibly on a path towards EU membership, while still struggling with issues of organised crime, corruption, emigration and the heavy weight of the past.