biography
| name: |
Riefenstahl, Leni
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| |
popular name of Berta Helene Amalie Riefenstahl
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pronunciation:
[reefenshtahl]
| sex:
| female
|
| lived:
| (1902– )
|
| biography:
| Film-maker, born in Berlin, Germany. After acting in several films she formed her own company, and made Triumph des Willens (1935, Triumph of the Will), a compelling record of a Nazi rally at Nuremberg. It vividly illustrated Hitler's charismatic appeal, but tainted her career, prompting criticism that she had glorified the event. Olympiad (1938), her epic two-part documentary of the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, was given a gala premiere on Hitler's 49th birthday. During World War 2 she made Tiefland, a non-musical and non-political version of d'Albert's opera of that name. This was premiered in 1954, after she had been released from imprisonment for her collaboration with the Nazis. In the 1970s she published several controversial photographic studies of Africa. Her autobiography, Leni Riefenstahl, a Memoir, was published in 1993. |
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