Unusually made documentary tells the story of 1980s skate culture in East and West Berlin (photo by Harald Schmitt)
THIS AIN’T CALIFORNIA (Marten Persiel, 2012)
Maysles Cinema
343 Malcolm X Blvd. between 127th & 128th Sts.
April 12-18, $10
212-582-6050
www.mayslesinstitute.org
www.thisaintcalifornia.com
Marten Persiel’s award-winning This Ain’t California begins with a section entitled “The Legend,” slyly pointing out from the start that what we’re about to see is the stuff of myth, not necessarily the straightforward documentary many have taken it for. Using real archival footage, re-created scenes, animation, and contemporary Super-8 footage posing as archival, Persiel, cinematographer Felix Leiberg, and editor Maxine Gödecke tell the story of Denis “Panik” Paracek, a 1980s skateboarding legend who has just been killed in Afghanistan. His old friends reunite to pay tribute to him, sharing tales of his remarkable skill, his fearlessness, and his ability to attract the opposite sex. While doing so, they paint a fascinating picture of East and West Germany in a decade that ended with the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. “For him, skating was a liberation,” one friend says, getting to the heart of the film, which is about freedom, both on an individual and global scale. Persiel also speaks with a former member of the secret service, who describes keeping a close eye on the underground skateboard culture and attempting to use the participants for propaganda during the Cold War. The film is intimate and playful, serious and involving, even if it’s all not necessarily true. This Ain’t California won the Dialogue en Perspective prize at the 2012 Berlin Film Festival, but the key word there is “perspective,” because as it turns out, the character of Panik is played by actor Kai Hillebrandt, and Panik might just be a complete fantasy created by Persiel. Most of the other characters are portrayed by actors as well. However, Persiel does an outstanding job re-creating the importance of the underground skater culture during a perilous time in East and West Germany, as a group of punks fought the power the only way they knew how. This Ain’t California is having its U.S. theatrical premiere at the Maysles Cinema April 12-18 at 7:30, with Persiel taking part in a Skype Q&A following a special Saturday afternoon 4:00 matinee.