Riefenstahl

The latest documentary from Andres Veiel (Beuys) is a sobering interrogation of one of cinema’s most controversial figures: Leni Riefenstahl, the acclaimed director of Triumph of the Will and Olympia, whose aesthetic innovations helped mythologize the Third Reich. Drawing on unprecedented access to her personal archive—home movies, letters, recorded phone calls, unfinished memoirs—Veiel constructs a meticulous portrait of a woman who spent decades constructing her own legend while denying complicity in the regime she glorified. Far from a conventional biography, the film lets damning documents and images speak for themselves, revealing not only her unrepentant belief system but also the enduring power of spectacle to seduce, distort, and absolve. Riefenstahl is more than a historical exposé; it’s a meditation on the ethics of art and the dangers of self-deception. Winner of the Cinema & Arts Award at the 2024 Venice Film Festival. A Kino Lorber release.