Synopsis
THIS AIN’T CALIFORNIA is a celebration of the lust for life, a contemporary documentary trip into the cranky world of 'rollerboarding' in the German Democratic Republic. A coming-of-age tale of three teenagers and their passionate love for a sport on the crumbling tarmac of the streets in the GDR, which was considered very ill-fitting. The punk fairy tale of Nico, Dirk and Denis is a story of the subversive powers of fun in that part of Germany, which had lost touch with its citizens.The film follows its three heroes from their childhood days in the seventies through their teenage rebellion in the eighties, ending in the late, last summer of their life in the GDR in 1989, when their lives changed forever.