Riefenstahl

Riefenstahl

Andres Veiel, Germany, 2024, 115′

The director of the documentary delved into the extensive personal archive of the infamous filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, who is renowned for her films produced during the Nazi era. The archive contained film and audio tapes, photographs and correspondence, including letters to Goebbels and Hitler, who hired her as the regime’s chief propagandist. After the war, Riefenstahl constantly claimed that she was an apolitical and naive companion of the Third Reich, but the disclosed material casts her claims in an ominous light.

“Already in the writing process, I was concerned with precisely determining her guilt and responsibility – on the basis of new, previously unpublished documents. I wanted to understand the figure of Riefenstahl in her development, without exculpating her in the process. Wanting to understand a person is not the same as looking at them sympathetically. /…/ After about a year of preliminary work, I reached a dead end. I had succeeded in bringing the findings from the estate into a non-linear but quite tight narrative. But something crucial was missing: the development of the character. In the biographical narrative, there is no reformation, if you will: no redemption of the main protagonist. Riefenstahl refuses the classic turning point in her life story. She remains with her legends until the end of her life, she regrets nothing, doesn’t call anything into question.” – Andres Veiel

Andres Veiel‘s approach to filmmaking is characterized by intensive research which sometimes takes several years. In the course of his artistic career, he has been honored with well over fifty awards for his documentaries and feature films as well as for his theater productions and writings, including the European Film Award, several German Film Awards and the Grimme Award.

The film will be introduced by the Kino Otok festival team and guests.

The screening is part of a special programme we are preparing in collaboration with Kosovelov dom Sežana as part of the 21st International Film Festival Kino Otok – Isola Cinema.