Three of the most popular sci-fi features from Berlin's famous DEFA have now been released in a box set. The films, from the Cold War era, are a bizarre and fascinating glimpse into a mirror-opposite universe. Created under the watchful eye of Soviet bloc censors, they paint pictures of a vague socialist utopia. In The Silent Star - the first sci-fi film DEFA ever made, in 1960 - an international group of scientists must figure out what a mysterious object is after it lands in the Gobi desert. A careful examination reveals that it's a declaration of war on the planet Earth. Based on the book by Stanislaw Lem (who also wrote Solaris). Also included is In the Dust of the Stars (1976), particularly hilarious for its über-'70s costumes and more laid-back sexual mores, an odd reflection of the time. Eolomea (1972) also tackles space invasions, but this time there are shades of the dystopia we would later see in Alien - in this film, the scientists get boozed up and swear. » Matthew Hays