Deaf Crocodile To Release 4K Restoration Of the Surreal 1984 Romanian Sci-Fi Animation DELTA SPACE MISSION On Blu-ray

By Tom Stockman | February 1, 2022

. The Surreal Romanian Sci-Fi Animated film DELTA SPACE MISSION from Directors Mircea Toia And Călin Cazan is set for February 2022 Release with OCN Distribution, Digital Releases To Follow With Grasshopper Films. Here’s a NEW TEASER FROM THE RESTORATION:

Deaf Crocodile Films is proud to announce the upcoming 4K restoration release of the wildly surreal Romanian animated sci-fi film DELTA SPACE MISSION (MISIUNEA SPAȚIALĂ DELTA) from directors Mircea Toia and Călin Cazan. Pre-sales will launch on February 1, 2022, followed by a digital launch several weeks after, released in collaboration with Grasshopper Films.

DELTA SPACE MISSION features a new 4K restoration from the original 35mm picture and sound elements by the Arhiva Nationala de Filme – Cinemateca Romana / National Film Archive – Romanian Cinematheque and the Centrul National al Cinematografiei / Romanian Film Centre (CNC). The Blu-ray edition of DELTA SPACE MISSION contains a new interview with co-director Călin Cazan, an essay by acclaimed comic book artist and film historian Stephen R. Bissette (Swamp Thing), and two rare episodes from the DELTA SPACE MISSION short film series.

DELTA SPACE MISSION  (1984, 70 min.) from directors Mircea Toia and Călin Cazan. Best described as an early 80s Eastern European space-prog album high on sugary breakfast cereal, Heavy Metal magazine, Hanna-Barbera cartoons and 8-bit arcade games like Galaxian and Asteroids, all of these elements will give you some idea of the otherworldly weirdness of the Romanian animated sci-fi film DELTA SPACE MISSION. In the year 3084, Alma, a Modigliani-esque alien journalist with blue-green skin, boards a state-of-the-art spacecraft named Delta whose highly advanced computer brain develops a mad teenage crush on her with disastrous results. An incredibly strange and strangely beautiful work of galactic eye candy, DELTA SPACE MISSION defies all rules of perspective and logic, like M.C. Escher and Moebius teaming up on a Romanian Saturday morning cartoon. Fueled by an addictive Perry-Kingsley like electronic synth score by Calin Ioachimescu, DELTA SPACE MISSION grooves along folding space and time, an early 80s Eurodisco perched on the edge of a Black Hole. With its egg-shaped spaceships, giant floating triangles, and anthropomorphic computer, the film also brings to mind Kubrick’s 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, Rene Laloux’s FANTASTIC PLANET, and the work of the Strugatsky Brothers (STALKER). (In Romanian with English subtitles).

“Our story started from the idea of a Romanian poem from the late 1800s by Mihai Eminescu, ‘Luceafărul,’ which talks about the impossible love between Luceafăr (Evening Star) and an emperor’s daughter, “ said co-director Călin Cazan of the film. “Then we slipped in the story of the relationship between the computer and the alien journalist Alma, linking the action to what we had seen in 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.”

“DELTA SPACE MISSION has been high on my wish list of films to re-release for many years,” says Deaf Crocodile Co-Founder and Head of Acquisitions & Distribution Dennis Bartok. “It took nearly five years to locate and negotiate the rights for the film.  It’s such a striking and otherworldly fusion of ideas and animation styles – and co-director Călin Cazan has been a pure joy to talk with about his and the late Mircea Toia’s creative process-making the film in the early 80s behind the Iron Curtain.  I’m thrilled we’re able to present it in such a gorgeous edition with new interviews and artwork and rare short films.”

Craig Rogers, Co-Founder and Head of Restoration for Deaf Crocodile, added on the deal “The 4K scan of the original 35mm negative of DELTA SPACE MISSION allowed for a stunning restoration. The eye-popping colors and psychedelic animation will look absolutely stunning on Blu-ray.”  

About Deaf Crocodile Films

Deaf Crocodile is an L.A.-based Distribution + Restoration company focused on New, Independent, Lost/Unseen and World Cinema with a special interest in Animation, Cult Horror + Fantasy, LGBTQ films, and the work of neglected and underrepresented Filmmakers from across the spectrum.  The company was founded by distributor & exhibitor Dennis Bartok and film restoration expert Craig Rogers.  It recently announced its acquisitions (with partner Gratitude Films) of Indian director Pushpendra Singh’s mystical feminist drama THE SHEPHERDESS AND THE SEVEN SONGS which opened Jan. 12^th at MOMA in New York, and THE VILLAGE HOUSE, the astonishing debut feature from 23-year old Indian filmmaker Achal Mishra.  Deaf Crocodile will shortly be releasing new 4K restorations of legendary Russian fantasy filmmaker Aleksandr Ptushko’s ILYA MUROMETS (THE SWORD & THE DRAGON) from Mosfilm and SAMPO (THE DAY THE EARTH FROZE) from the Finnish National Audiovisual Institute.  The company has also acquired all four features by genre-bending Iranian director Shahram Mokri, including his latest, the cryptic thriller CARELESS CRIME, inspired by the tragic Cinema Rex Fire that triggered the Iranian Revolution (Winner Best Screenplay, 2020 Venice Film Festival), which opens Feb. 25^th at BAM in Brooklyn.  (www.deafcrocodile.com)