Interkosmos

Remember when space-travel was sexy?

Interkosmos

is a charmingly lo-fi sci-fi movie which documents an imaginary East German space mission of the 1970s, perfectly capturing an era when it was hoped that Communism would colonise the outer reaches of the solar system. Around the central romance between floating cosmonauts Falcon and Seagull, filmmaker and visual artist Jim Finn weaves a wonderful patchwork of clunky newsreel, stop-frame animation (The Little Space Pig) and Berkeley-esque musical numbers. The krautrocking soundtrack is provided by Colleen Burke and Jim Becker (of Califone). www.interkosmosmovie.com

Accompanied by Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda (dir: Ira Cohen, USA 1968) a 20-minute hippie-era classic complete with masked elves, kaleidoscopic camera tricks and an amazing multi-layered score by Angus MacLise. The film was recently revived on DVD with new scores by Acid Mothers Temple and Sunburned Hand of the Man, and can be picked up from boomkat.