In 2016, the estate of Leni Riefenstahl, consisting of 700 boxes, was donated to the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. As a director, she created iconographic images. After the Second World War, she always tried to deny her ideological proximity to the Nazi regime. Leni Riefenstahl allowed only one account of her biography: her own. The legacy of one of the most controversial women of the 20th century tells a different story. The film consists of 100% archive material. After six years of intensive work on the legacy, the film celebrated its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in 2024. The cinema release is on 31 October 2024.

In August 2018, Monika Preischl took charge of the formal cataloguing at three locations: the Berlin State Library, the Fotomuseum and the cooperating foundation of the Kinemathek. In collaboration with Mona El-Bira, research was also extended to sources outside the private estate. In a laborious process, the estate was examined, evaluated and selected for cinematic use, always in consideration of archive material that was not present in the estate. This interplay of private, public, never-before-seen and iconic material not only resulted in a multi-layered legal situation, but also provided new insights into Riefenstahl’s complex life and work.

Director & Screenplay
Andres Veiel

Producer
Sandra Maischberger

Nationwide cinema release: 31 October 2024

World premiere: in competition (out of competition) at the 81st Venice International Film Festival

Funded by Film- und Medienstiftung NRW
Medienboard Berlin Brandenburg
German Federal Film Board
The Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media
German Federal Film Fund