Utopia in Babelsberg - Science Fiction aus der DDR (2021)

DEFA made several science fiction films that are hardly known today. These productions, called "utopian films" in the GDR, show astonishing technical achievements. ...Science fiction at DEFA was never a war of the stars, no alien invasion, but in most cases an establishment of contact with the alien via signals, a recurring plot motif. Communication instead of confrontation. These films provide information about the image of a coming socialist society, about expectations and hopes, and they were counter-images to the officially condemned Western SF art.

Knut ElstermannDirector