Leni Riefenstahl
Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl (22 August 1902 – 8 September 2003) was a German film director, actress and dancer widely noted for her aesthetics and innovations as a filmmaker. Her most famous film was Triumph des Willens (Triumph of the Will), made at the 1934 Nuremberg congress of the Nazi Party. Riefenstahl's prominence in the Third Reich along with her personal friendship with Adolf Hitler thwarted her film career following Germany's defeat in World War II, after which she was arrested but released without any charges.
Triumph of the Will gave Riefenstahl instant and lasting international fame, as well as infamy. Although she directed only eight films, just two of which received significant coverage outside of Germany, Riefenstahl was widely known all her life. The propaganda value of her films made during the 1930s repels most modern commentators but many film histories cite the aesthetics as outstanding. The Economist wrote that Triumph of the Will "sealed her reputation as the greatest female filmmaker of the 20th century".
In the 1970s Riefenstahl published her still photography of the Nuba tribes in Sudan in several books such as The Last of the Nuba. She was active up until her death and also published marine life stills and released the marine-based film Impressionen unter Wasser in 2002.
After her death, the Associated Press described Riefenstahl as an "acclaimed pioneer of film and photographic techniques". Der Tagesspiegel newspaper in Berlin noted, "Leni Riefenstahl conquered new ground in the cinema". The BBC said her documentaries "were hailed as groundbreaking film-making, pioneering techniques involving cranes, tracking rails, and many cameras working at the same time".
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Photos
Movies (43)
FASCISM(s): A Film in Six Parts
2025 · Self (archive footage)
Riefenstahl
2024 · Self (archive footage)
City of Toys
2024 · Self (archive footage)
Longing For Innocence
2023 · Director
Leni Riefenstahl - The End of a Myth
2020 · Self (archive footage)
Churchill and the Movie Mogul
2019 · Self (archive footage)
Ice Cold Passion - Leni Riefenstahl and Arnold Fanck between Hitler and Hollywood
2018 · Self (archive footage)
Hitler's Hollywood
2017 · Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
The Run
2016
Les Champions d'Hitler
2016 · Self
LENI
2015 · Self (archive footage)
In the Service of the Regime. Leni Riefenstahl
2009 · Self (archive footage)
Faszination Bergfilm - Himmelhoch und Abgrundtief
2008 · Self (archive footage)
Speer und er: Nachspiel - Die Täuschung
2005 · Herself
The Goebbels Experiment
2005 · Self (archive footage)
Leni Riefenstahl: Her Dream of Africa
2003 · Self
Underwater Impressions
2002 · Director, Writer
The Immoderation of Me - Sandra Maischberger meets Leni Riefenstahl
2002 · Self
From Stag Beetle to Swastika
2002
Birth of a Nation
1997 · Self
The Night of the Filmmakers
1995 · Self
The Wonderful Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl
1993 · Herself
Time of Darkness and Silence
1982 · Self
Games of the XXI Olympiad
1977 · Self - Spectator
Memories of Berlin: The Twilight of Weimar Culture
1976 · Self - Interviewee
Memories of a Summer in Berlin
1972 · herself
Lowlands
1954 · Martha, Producer, Screenplay, Director, Editor
Hoch der Lambeth Valk
1941 · Idea
Olympia Part Two: Festival of Beauty
1938 · Producer, Editor, Director, Writer
Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations
1938 · Self (uncredited), Producer, Editor, Director, Writer
Day of Freedom
1935 · Producer, Editor, Director
Triumph of the Will
1935 · Director, Screenplay, Editor, Producer
The Victory of Faith
1933 · Director, Writer, Editor
S.O.S. Iceberg
1933 · Ellen Lawrence
S.O.S. Iceberg
1933 · Hella Lorenz
The Blue Light
1932 · Junta, Director, Editor, Producer, Story
The White Ecstasy
1931 · Leni
Storm Over Mont Blanc
1930 · Hella Armstrong
The White Hell of Pitz Palu
1929 · Maria Maioni
Das Schicksal derer von Habsburg
1928 · Maria Vetsera
The Great Leap
1927 · Gita
The Holy Mountain
1926 · Diotima, Director
Ways to Strength and Beauty
1925
