The fact that this is fictional and director Marten Persiel claiming to have contacted Denis Paniceck (which is only a fictional character) is more than shady."I've met Denis several times and interviewed him".1 This is absolutely in-acceptable. This is not a documentation about anything. It's a fictional piece of work about a certain time in eastern Germany. This is not clearly displayed to the viewer. And claiming to have contacted that fictional character, said to have died 2011 in Afghanistan, but the "deutsche Bundeswehr" saying that no one with that name ever died in Afghanistan + not displaying the names of the actors playing the fake characters in the end of the movie, just add to the picture, that this film has collected more fame than it has actually deserved by claiming to be something, that it actually is not. It turns out everything is fictional.2 1 http://www.bpb.de/gesellschaft/kultur/filmbildung/142345/interview-mit-marten-persiel-und-ronald-vietz 2 http://www.welt.de/print/weltkompakt/vermischtes/article120358706/Der-Skater-den-es-nie-gab.html More info: http://www.bpb.de/gesellschaft/kultur/filmbildung/142342/this-ain-t-california-ein-skater-maerchen