Ghosts of German Past From Leni Riefenstahl to the Munich Olympics Unspool at Venice Festival
variety.comNick Holdsworth [head] Andres Veiel’s documentary “Riefenstahl,” which challenges the carefully crafted public persona of one of Germany’s most controversial directors, is one of 17 German films playing in the various sections of the Venice Film Festival.
A deep dive into Leni Riefenstahl’s previously inaccessible archive, the 160-minute film lifts the lid on secrets the director of the 1935 Nuremberg propaganda film “Triumph of the Will” struggled more than half her life to keep hidden.
Veiel was brought onboard to direct by producer Sandra Maischberger of Berlin’s Vincent Films, who had gained unfettered access to Riefenstahl’s archive after the death of her longtime companion and husband Horst Kette in 2016. “For me, it is the right festival for the film,” Veiel tells Variety. “The political situation in German and Italy is similar — with the rise of the right-wing, and a longing for propaganda and fake news.
For a debate about the film, it is one of the best festivals for us.” There are also ghosts of the past in Venice. Riefenstahl screened several of her films on the Lido in the 1930s, including her two Nazi propaganda films, and her first feature, “The Blue Light,” made in 1932.
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