Part of the DEFA Collection

Newly remastered and packed with fascinating bonus materials, THE DEFA SCI-FI COLLECTION features three seminal works from the legendary DEFA film studio: The Silent Star, Eolomea and In the Dust of the Stars. Always provocative, hugely influential and highly entertaining, these mind-bending stories of space exploration, alien races and utopian dreams (or nightmares) are finally available, unaltered and unedited, in all their space-age glory.

DEFA (Deutsche Filmaktiengesellschaft) was made up of the state-run studios of the former German Democratic Republic or East Germany. DEFA was headquartered in the legendary UFA Studios of the "film city" of Babelsberg near Berlin and was famous for the work of such artists as Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder and Marlene Dietrich. Spanning from 1946 to the 1990s, this body of films represents Europe's largest cohesive national cinema collection.

What the Critics are Saying

"The DEFA Sci-Fi Collection'' brings together three cold-war fantasies of space travel and Communist domination of the known universe, blending outrageous camp and Marxist ideology." - New York Times

"If there's anything more beguiling to a true treasure-hunting cinephile than the old films of a lost nation-in this case, East Germany-it's that nation's idiosyncratic genre flicks. Socialist sci-fi! First Run is releasing three uncut films from DEFA, the GDR's premier production studio, all of them chintzy, freaky, conceptual space operas focused, surprisingly, on character and emotional fallout." - Village Voice

"Running the gamut from the exceedingly nerdy and expository to the absolutely tripped out, reckless consumption of this set may result in full-fledged conversion to a utopian space politics unheard of this side of the United Space Federation. Highly enjoyable!"
- Stop Smiling Magazine