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
