Strange New Worlds: Science Fiction at DEFA - Masters of Cinema

Following the division of Germany in the aftermath of World War II, DEFA was established as the state-owned film studio of East Germany or the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Active from 1946 until its dissolution in 1992, the studio made hundreds of feature films in a diverse range of genres, from hard-hitting dramas to crime thrillers, fairytale adaptations and Westerns. During the 1960s and 1970s, it also produced a series of colourful and wildly imaginative science fiction films in which courageous cosmonauts attempt to unravel the secrets of the universe: The Silent Star, Signals: A Space Adventure, Eolomea and In the Dust of the Stars. Based on Stanislaw Lem's The Astronauts, The Silent Star begins as an extraterrestrial object is unearthed in the Gobi desert. When it is found to have originated on Venus, the crew of the spacecraft Kosmoskrator is dispatched to the yellow planet to solve its mysteries. In Signals: A Space Adventure, the Laika and its crew are sent to find a lost research vessel, the Ikaros. But as they draw nearer to the missing craft, they begin to intercept a series of strange radio transmissions. Then, Eolomea sees eight ships dispatched from the space station Margot disappear without trace - and it's down to science officer Maria Scholl (Cox Habbema) to find out what happened to them. Finally, In the Dust of the Stars follows the crew of the Cyrano as they land on the planet TEM 4 to investigate a distress signal - and find themselves under the psychedelic influence of its bizarre inhabitants. Pitched somewhere between Forbidden Planet, Star Trek, Solaris and 2001: A Space Odyssey, DEFA's science fiction films are marvels of production design and practical effects work - as well as poignant commentaries on the central issues of the atomic age, including nuclear warfare, rapid technological advancement and capitalist expansion.

Special Features

Bonus Footage, Commentary: All four films: Rolland Man, presented by David Melville Wingrove., Documentaries: 'Love 2002' (1972); 'Cosmonaut Dreams'., Interviews: Mark Bould (sci-fi scholar); Claire Knight (Soviet cinema expert); Peter Suring (cinematographer)., Animated shorts: 'The Robot' (1968); 'Jana and the Little Star' (1971); Archival newsreels: 'British Filmmaker Visits DEFA' (1959); 'A Rocket in the Soviet Zone' (1959); 'Marx Attacks: Video essay by Daniel Jonah Wolpert on 'In the Dust of the Stars'., Trailers

Actors: Karin Ugowski, Silvia Popovici, Jana Brejchová, Ekkehard Schall, Yoko Tani, Ignacy Machowski, Rolf Hoppe, Milan Beli, Piotr Pawlowski, Alfred Müller, Gojko Mitic, Ivan Andonov, Vsevolod Sanaev, Julius Ongewe, Petar Slabokov, Günther Simon, Oldrich Lukes, Alfred Struwe, Cox Habbema, Helmut Schreiber

Audio Languages: German

Duration: 366 minutes

Number of Discs: 3

Subtitle Languages: English

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