Signals: A Space Adventure / In the Dust of the Stars

Standard Edition w/Replacement Disc

SIGNALS: A SPACE ADVENTURE (SIGNALE – EIN WELTRAUMABENTEUER), 1970, DEFA, 86 min. The first and most ambitious of two epic space operas that prolific East German genre director Gottfried Kolditz (1922-1982) made for the state-run DEFA film studios, SIGNALS was DEFA’s cheeky attempt to outdo Kubrick’s 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY behind the Iron Curtain. The film used many of the same tricks: expansive, visually stunning shots of the cosmos … gorgeous Futurist space-design with ergonomic chairs, IBM lookalike computers, Mod mini-dresses and “STAR TREK” space uniforms … even a copycat free-floating in tunnel sequence with a wild electronic Perry-Kingsley type score. Featuring breathtaking 70mm cinematography, recently restored in 6K from the original camera negative by the University of Massachusetts Amherst / DEFA Film Library for its first-ever world Blu-ray release by Deaf Crocodile.

IN THE DUST OF THE STARS (IM STAUB DER STERNE), 1976, DEFA, 95 min. Who could possibly resist an insanely groovy mid-1970s East German space opera with an Ennio Morricone-like theme song, a nonstop underground disco where partygoers spritz hallucinogenic mouth-spray, scantily clad super-models voguing in an abstract sculpture garden, tons of silver glam-rock boots and glittery eyeshadow and red leather space-suits, and dialogue like “Thob, I’ll upload them to the Lambda channel” and “The Temians are fun people – fun and a little crazy”?! Director Gottfried Kolditz’s delirious gem of Socialist eye-candy ranks alongside Mario Bava’s PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES as one of the most eye-popping genre treats of the era, with generous helpings of ZARDOZ, “SPACE: 1999,” and “BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25th CENTURY” thrown in for good measure. In German with English subtitles.

Special Features

• New commentary by film historian and comics artist Stephen R. Bissette

• “Other worlds, strange dreams:  the East German space operas of director Gottfried Kolditz” - new video essay by film historian Evan Chester

• Original DEFA trailers for both films

• Blu-ray authoring by David Mackenzie of Fidelity In Motion

• New art by Beth Morris