RIEFENSTAHL

When a state foundation was donated the entire estate of Leni Riefenstahl in 2018, it was already considered one of the most significant collections in the history of film and photography. Andres Veiel’s documentary is now uncovering this treasure of 700 boxes of film, manuscripts, letters, files, documents and voice recordings.

Starting with Leni Riefenstahl‘s beginnings as a celebrated actress in the 1930s, the film delineates how her initial encounters with Hitler and Goebbels propelled her to become the Reich’s preeminent filmmaker. Her propaganda film “Triumph of the Will” about the 1934 Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg and “Olympia”, about the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin are world-famous works, deriving from her close, multi-year collaboration with the party’s leaders. Hitherto unseen private films, personal photos and intimate documents combined with Video recordings of Riefenstahl‘s memorable appearances on German and international TV-shows from the 1960s until her death in 2003 show an artist endeavoring to disassociate the striking aesthetics she crafted from the ideology of the Nazis. Andres Veiel lets us investigate ourselves her lies, incantations and slander, elevating the discourse to a universal and timeless inquiry of self-portrayal and external perception within the media.

Andres Veiel © Arno Declair
Andres Veiel © Arno Declair
photos © Bundesarchiv, Vincent Productions
  • Genre
    Documentary
  • CATEGORY
    Documentary
  • YEAR OF PRODUCTION
    2024
  • DIRECTOR
    Andres Veiel
  • SCREENPLAY
    Andres Veiel
  • DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
    Toby Cornish
  • CAST
    Leni Riefenstahl
  • PRODUCER
    Sandra Maischberger
  • PRODUCTION COMPANY
    Vincent Productions in coproduction with WDR, SWR, NDR, BR, RBB
  • RUNTIME
    115 min
  • LANGUAGE
    German, English
  • FESTIVALS
    Venice 2024
  • SALES
    Beta Cinema GmbH
    beta@betacinema.com
    www.betacinema.com