This Ain't California
“The GDR was not supposed to be that way – the streets were not for
playing around”, we hear at one point in the film – just as the “wheel-boards” roll across Alexanderplatz in footage from
the 80s: hotpants, sex and music right beside government-organized processions. The story is authentic right down to the production
and creative teams, which are made up of East and West German skaters. THIS AIN'T CALIFORNIA has a lighthearted yet powerful
soundtrack as limitless as the vitality of its protagonists.
Director's Biography
Marten Persiel, born 1974 in Berlin, Germany. He entered the
film industry working as an assistant editor for the film production company HKF in Hamburg. From 1997 to 98 he studied mixed
media art at Portsmouth University, and from 1998 to 2001 directing at Westminster University in London. THIS AIN’T CALIFORNIA
is his first feature-length documentary, which was screened at Berlinale 2012. // Films (Selected): BUHAY NA TUBIG (Living
Water, 2004, doc short), 8 SCHRITTE (2008, doc short), WELCOME EN CASA (2010, middle-length doc), THIS AIN'T CALIFORNIA (2012,
doc)
European Panorama Documentary 2012
Marten Persiel
Germany 2012
color
90
minutes
OV with English subtitles
Screenplay
Martin Persiel/Ira Wedel
Cinematography
Felix Leiberg
Editing Maxine
Gödecke/Toni Froschhammer/Bobby Good
Music
Lars Damm