This paper investigates the relationship between a documentary cinematic representation of a street and the impact, which this method of representation has on the perception of a real street. The study of that relationship can be valuable for context-sensitive research, design and planning of urban environments. The practical field of study will be the Latvian documentary film “Crossroad street” (1988) directed by Ivars Seleckis and the streets in the suburbs of Riga. The film “Crossroad street” captures moments of everyday lives staged on a small suburban street in Riga, the inhabitants of which are seemingly untouched by the “perestroika” – political, social and economical changes before the collapse of the Soviet Union. The information presented in documentaries is suggested to be “authentic” and “not staged”. However, documentaries are intentional in a way that they are “about” something, thus creating a narrative of fragmented information. The fragmented narrative provided in the particular film is used as a starting point for the investigation and a discussion of the perception of a street in a wider context – its spatial configuration, functionality and social role.