Biography
Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl (22 August 1902 – 8 September 2003) was a German film director, actress and dancer widely noted for her aesthetics and innovations as a filmmaker. Her most famous film was Triumph des Willens (Triumph of the Will), made at the 1934 Nuremberg congress of the Nazi Party. Riefenstahl's prominence in the Third Reich along with her personal friendship with Adolf Hitler thwarted her film career following Germany's defeat in World War II, after which she was arrested but released without any charges. Triumph of the Will gave Riefenstahl instant and lasting international fame, as well as infamy. Although she directed only eight films, just two of which received significant coverage outside of Germany, Riefenstahl was widely known all her life. The propaganda value of her films made during the 1930s repels most modern commentators but many film histories cite the aesthetics as outstanding. The Economist wrote that Triumph of the Will "sealed her reputation as the greatest female filmmaker of the 20th century". In the 1970s Riefenstahl published her still photography of the Nuba tribes in Sudan in several books such as The Last of the Nuba. She was a…
Directed
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Triumph of the Will (1935) — Director
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Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations (1938) — Director
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Olympia Part Two: Festival of Beauty (1938) — Director
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The Blue Light (1932) — Director
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Day of Freedom (1935) — Director
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The Victory of Faith (1933) — Director
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Lowlands (1954) — Director
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Underwater Impressions (2002) — Director
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Longing For Innocence (2023) — Director
Also appeared in
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Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations (1938) — Nude Dancer - Prologue (uncredited)
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Riefenstahl (2024) — Self (archive footage)
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The Holy Mountain (1926) — Diotima
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The Wonderful Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl (1993) — Herself
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The Blue Light (1932) — Junta
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Hitler's Hollywood (2017) — Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
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The White Hell of Pitz Palu (1929) — Maria Maioni
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The Goebbels Experiment (2005) — Self (archival footage)
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Lowlands (1954) — Martha
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S.O.S. Iceberg (1933) — Hella Lorenz
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Storm Over Mont Blanc (1930) — Hella Armstrong
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The Great Leap (1927) — Gita
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Underwater Impressions (2002)
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S.O.S. Iceberg (1933) — Ellen Lawrence
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Games of the XXI Olympiad (1977) — Self - Spectator
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The White Ecstasy (1931) — Leni
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Ways to Strength and Beauty (1925)
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The Night of the Filmmakers (1995) — Self
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Birth of a Nation (1997) — Self
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Leni Riefenstahl - The End of a Myth (2020) — Self (archive footage)
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Churchill and the Movie Mogul (2019) — Self (archive footage)
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Leni Riefenstahl: Her Dream of Africa (2003) — Self
- aspekte (1965) — Self
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From Stag Beetle to Swastika (2002)
- The Immoderation of Me - Sandra Maischberger meets Leni Riefenstahl (2002) — Self
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Das Schicksal derer von Habsburg (1928) — Maria Vetsera
- Memories of a Summer in Berlin (1972) — herself
- Speer und er: Nachspiel - Die Täuschung (2005) — Herself
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Time of Darkness and Silence (1982) — Self
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Faszination Bergfilm - Himmelhoch und Abgrundtief (2008) — Self (archive footage)
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The Run (2016)
- Biographies (1978) — Self
- Je später der Abend (1973) — Self
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Les Champions d'Hitler (2016) — Self
- LENI (2015) — Self (archive footage)
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Memories of Berlin: The Twilight of Weimar Culture (1976) — Self - Interviewee
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FASCISM(s): A Film in Six Parts (2025) — Self (archive footage)
- Eiskalte Leidenschaft - Leni Riefenstahl und Arnold Fanck zwischen Hitler und Hollywood (2018) — Self (archive footage)
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City of Toys (2024) — Self (archive footage)
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In the Service of the Regime. Leni Riefenstahl (2009) — Self (archive footage)