The 'documentary' "This Ain't California" takes us behind the Iron Curtain in the 80's and the skater subculture of East Berlin:

Billed as a documentary, yet centered on a person who doesn't actually exist, This Ain't California chronicles a ragtag group of East German skateboarders who helped pioneer the sport in the shadow of the Iron Curtain. After their former leader, the anarchic, baby-faced Denis "Panik" Paraceck is shot and killed in Afghanistan, the now-adult skaters gather at one of their former haunts to discuss his legacy as well as their own rise to prominence.

Questions about the film's self-definition as "documentary" arose after a screening at Berlinale in 2012, forcing director Marten Persiel to eventually admit that much of the film's Super 8 and 16mm archival footage, which shows Panik and his cohorts skating, partying, and generally wreaking havoc amid the cemented cityscape of East Berlin, was actually shot in the present day with a group of young German skaters and various non-actors. Among the retired skaters who deify Panik are a few actors, and Panik himself is portrayed by German model Kai Hillebrandt.

These revelations aside, This Ain't California isn't a complete hoax. There absolutely was a vibrant underground skateboard scene in East Germany during the '80s, which coincided with the rise of punk rock, hip-hop, break-dancing, and other outsider movements. The film is an engaging, scrupulously formed look at alternative lifestyles in the wake of political and social duress, and Persiel expertly recreates the milieu of East Berlin in the years leading up to Germany's reunification with his distinctly vintage yet authentic aesthetic.

Trailer:

Featured image: A skater at Alexanderplatz in Berlin, 1982. Photography by Harald Schmitt. Image via Wide House.