This Ain't California

This Ain’t California is a celebration of the lust for life, a documentary drama trip into the world of skate boarding in communist East Berlin in the mid 80’s. A coming-of-age tale of three teenagers and their passionate love for a sport on the crumbling tarmac of the streets in the German Democratic Republic, at the height of the Stasi secret polices efforts to crush rebellion. The punk fairy tale is a story of the subversive power of fun in that part of Germany, which had lost touch with its citizens. The film follows the rise of skating, hip-hop and break dancing through the 80’s, ending in the last summer of the GDR in 1989, when the wall fell, and their lives changed forever.