The World of Ghosts

Directed by Joachim Hellwig

A six-minute DEFA short that montages lurid covers from West German sci-fi pulp—especially the Perry Rhodan series—over an electronic/musical collage (including “Glory, glory, hallelujah”) and a polemical voiceover. Framed as a warning against a U.S.-style, militarized “future,” the film critiques capitalist sci-fi imagery (spaceship battles, soldiers vs. aliens/robots) and counters with the claim that “this is not our future.”