Ghosts of Germany’s Past Evoked in Venice Films ‘Riefenstahl,’ ‘September 5’
variety.comNick Holdsworth Andres Veiel’s documentary “Riefenstahl,” which challenges the carefully crafted public persona of one of Germany’s most controversial directors, who was forever tainted by working with the Nazis, is one of 17 German films playing in the various sections of the Venice Film Festival.
A deep dive into Leni Reifenstahl’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, who 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 – is untroubled by the film’s out-of-competition berth as he believes the festival is the right venue for its first showing. “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 at the festival in the 1930s, including her two Nazi propaganda films, and her first feature “The Blue Light,” made in 1932.
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