Signals: A Space Adventure
(Signale – Ein Weltraumabenteuer)
Signale – Ein Weltraumabenteuer © DEFA-Stiftung, Manfred Damm and Heinz Wenzel
| Kolditz, Gottfried |
| Dülz, Stanislaw |
| Eggers-Ebert, Gerda |
| Hanisch, Otto |
| Marks, Kurt |
| Starzenska, Maria |
| Kolditz, Gottfried |
| Wiesner, Claus-Ulrich |
| Richter, Thea |
| Gentz, Helga |
| Hanisch, Otto |
| Keller, Jochen |
| Krüllke, Erich |
| Pieske, Werner |
| Wolyniec, Roman |
| Schmidt, Günter |
| Schmidt, Marianne |
| Grewald, Christa |
| Jakubowski, Miroslaw |
| Tauchmann, Kurt |
| Sasse, Karl-Ernst |
| Wolter, Klaus |
| Mielke, Heinz |
| Wolczek, Olgierd |
| Darie, Jurie |
| Karel, Irena |
| Mitić, Gojko |
| Morshedy, Soheir |
| Müller, Alfred |
| Pawłowski, Piotr |
| Richter, Friedrich |
| Sawan, Zbigniew |
| Schreiber, Helmut |
| Sharikow, Jewgeni |
| Ugowski, Karin |
| Bath, Evamaria |
| Frohriep, Jürgen |
| Kästner, Thomas |
| Schröder, Karin |
| Sturm, Karl |
| Hildebrandt, Dorothea |
| Nowak, Marceli |
| DEFA Studio for Feature Films |
| Zespoly Filmowe Film Production Company (Warsaw) |
Synopsis
In the mid-21st century, the research vessel Ikaros has disappeared in space. Commander Veikko of the spaceship Laika assembles a crew to search for the missing ship.
But the mission is anything but routine: As the team travels through the meteoroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, they receive strange radio signals shortly before discovering the empty wreck of the Ikaros. The signals seem to point to the existence of a foreign civilization and the crew is afraid of a potential threat. Commander Veikko, however, is convinced that such a technically proficient civilization must advance beyond hostility and aggression.
Based on the novel Asteroidenjäger (Asteroid Hunters) by Carlos Rasch.
The film is also available for a Digital Site License for educational partners. Please find more information here.
Press comments
“Signals: A Space Adventure, 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 DEFA Foundation in Berlin.” —deafcrocodile.com
“An Eastern European science-fiction film that takes great care with trick shots and camera work.” —filmdienst.de
“Gottfried Kolditz, better known at that point as a director of musicals and fairy tales, decided to create a space adventure using Kubrick’s film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, as a template, and Signals: A Space Adventure was born.” —Jim Morton, eastgermancinema.com
“An unusual suspense adventure.” —filmaffinity.com
“Signals as a testing ground and showcase for special effects that had been inspired by Kubrick’s 2001 […] The utopian realism found in Signals was a mixture of an official socialist future vision combined with a focus on current concerns in space travel.” —Sonja Fritzsche, “A Natural and Artificial Homeland: East German Science-Fiction Film Responds to Kubrick and Tarkovsky,” Film & History
“This film was in dialogue with Kubrick’s 2001 and Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris (1972), both films that also overwhelmingly cast white actors and centered on white people’s concerns. The DEFA Film Studio consciously responded by maintaining a multiracial space crew, as well as the trope of an international and seemingly diverse World Council that oversaw scientific advancement.” —Evan Torner, “Postcolonial Science Heroes in East German Science-Fiction Films,” Science on Screen and Paper
Availability
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