The Elias Canetti International Society, in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut Bulgaria, invites you to the second screening in the “Days of German Cinema” series:

“RIFENSTAHL” (2024, 115 min.)

Director: Andrés Fáchel

Screenwriter: Andrés Fáchel

Cinematographer: Toby Cornish

Beauty in refined perspectives against a halo of light created by characteristic backlighting, dynamic movements captured in the finest detail through slow motion and zoom—this is how Leni Riefenstahl (1902–2003) created her captivating films and iconic images.

Why is she considered one of the most controversial women of the 20th century?…

Riefenstahl’s enthusiasm for beautiful bodies fit perfectly into Hitler’s ideology of the superiority of the victors and the associated contempt for the sick and the weak. After World War II, Riefenstahl attempted to deny her close ties to the Nazi regime. She was acquitted in court, but the media continued to portray her as a friend of Hitler and a propagandist for his regime—an image she fought against her entire life. Was she a careerist and accomplice, or an inexperienced woman charmed by Hitler, like 90% of all other Germans at the time, who realized the horrors of the regime too late?

Director Andrés Fajell and television journalist Sandra Meishberger present the two sides of Riefenstahl based on extensive research. 700 boxes, preserved by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, offer a deeper insight into Leni Riefenstahl’s life and explain why, 80 years after their creation, her films still serve as a model of “beauty, health, and strength.” Based on private, previously unseen films and photographs, personal letters, and telephone conversations with close friends, combined with fragments from talk shows and films, instead of the usual black-and-white portrayal, a multi-layered picture emerges in a broader context, in which Leni Riefenstahl becomes tangible in her entirety, including her talent for self-presentation. “For something to be remembered, something else must be forgotten” —such is the message of this well-balanced, contrasting study, which, through the fragile film sound, transforms into a dystopian atmosphere that makes tangible both the horrors of the Nazi regime and Riefenstahl’s inner tension between success and failure.

As a young actress (“an actress in a skirt”), she fearlessly scaled a dangerous rock face—the perfect choice for the opening scenes of *Riefenstahl*, the film about her and her meteoric rise. Thanks to her acting and film talent, Hitler and his entourage took notice of her. Her penchant for the beautiful and heroic fit perfectly into National Socialist propaganda. During her tour of Europe with her film “Olympia,” dedicated to the 1936 Olympic Games, not only she but also Hitler were greeted with thunderous applause. Thirty cinematographers, including Riefenstahl, filmed this sporting mega-event. The footage of elite athletes, the grandiose aesthetics of the bodies, and the fluid transitions between movements still captivate viewers today.

To understand Riefenstahl, we must understand her childhood. Her father wanted a son, but since she was born as a daughter, she was subjected to cruel discipline by her father. He would throw her into the water before she could swim, almost drowning her. He also beat her and locked her in the bathroom for hours. In scenes from the film „Triumph of the Will“, she is described as an „organized force“ and a „demonstration of a disciplined body, prepared for victory.“ Her obedience comes naturally. But in her letters, she mourns the „dead ideals.“ She dreams of a hand that will bring order and finally deal with the „rotten state.“

From the very first moment, Riefenstahl felt ‘magnetically’ attracted to Hitler. She owed her career to him. Nevertheless, later she summed up: “It would have been best if I had died at the beginning of the war.” After her first appointment as a war correspondent during the ‘invasion of Poland,’ she declined similar assignments but continued filming, ignoring the suffering caused by the Nazi regime. After the war, during the political reevaluation of the Nazi era, Riefenstahl was acquitted in court as a ‘follower of Hitler,’ but her image as a propagandist for Hitler and ‘assistant to the rat hunters,’ as the newspaper Bild writes, remained attached to her, which is why she no longer received offers to participate in films. Her directorial instructions during the filming of some of her movies during the war to ‘remove the Jews’ so that people would not be seen in the background during shooting were later interpreted by Revue magazine as a call for the execution of a Jews

Riefenstahl leaves Germany and begins filming again only in the 1960s. For months she lives in Africa with the Nuba tribe in Sudan, in order to capture the beauty of these people. Sponsored by German companies, who in return receive the right to use the photographs for free – in one of the scenes, next to two children washing, a large box of Persil laundry detergent is visible. A bitter satire, left uncommented, but perfectly showing the manipulative side of Riefenstahl. She is only interested in her own recognition and the aesthetics of beauty, having no idea about the instrumentalization of her work.

During the filming of the documentary “Riefenstahl,” in front of the camera she continues to deny facts that have long been historically disproven, but it is still moving how this woman fought all her life for her reputation.

In 1944, she filmed “Tiefland” based on Hitler’s favorite operas, for which she recruited 50 children from the Sinti community. Many of them were killed in concentration camps in the following years, while Riefenstahl claimed that she later saw all the extras “alive and well.” But then, why during the interview with her does she almost break down in tears and ask to stop filming, and why for 10 years, while writing her memoirs, does she struggle to decide how she wants to be perceived?

The direction of the film “Riefenstahl” remains confident, showing the favorable reactions of the audience, but contrasts them with historical facts and symbolically takes a position in the final scene – Riefenstahl, now in old age, wants to “remove” a wrinkle from her face and must admit: “This is no longer possible.”

“Riefenstahl” is a moving, multilayered portrait that leaves it to the viewers to judge this case..