Riefenstahl

Press Quotes

"5/5 Stars. Leni Riefenstahl returns to the Venice film festival, after a fashion, as the star of Andres Veiel's extraordinary deep-dive documentary about the original cancelled artist."
The Guardian

"4 out of 5 stars. It is sobering and profoundly eerie to watch this masterful documentary about “Hitler's favourite film-maker” Leni Riefenstahl in the festival that awarded her a gold medal for Triumph of the Will in 1935 and the top prize, then called the Coppa Mussolini, for Olympia in 1938. The film, an epic meta-documentary that pulls together previous Riefenstahl analysis, including "The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl" from 1993, and newly unearthed archive material, is all about political evasion, self-preservation and the limits of denial."
The Times of London

"A valuable and arresting piece of work. It's a portrait that's really a meditation on Riefenstahl — her life, her art, the question of her guilt. And one of the things it does is to remind you of what a singularly provocative and insidious and mysterious figure she was."
Variety

"Clear-eyed. Forensic and merciless. Riefenstahl is a clean, precise piece of documentary film-making… And it won't deter anyone from going back to acclaim her films, even if Leni Riefenstahl herself has fallen out of fashion and the ‘best of' lists. It does, however, halt any attempt whatsoever at her personal rehabilitation."
Screen International

"Makes a compelling case the propagandist was a Nazi until her death. So it's remarkable to consider the unambiguously glowing terms under which certain film historians, and even mainstream critics and entertainment journalists, have regarded Riefenstahl over the past nine decades. … With his new documentary Riefenstahl, Andres Veiel absolutely sets out to offer a different perspective: Glorify her at your peril."
Indiewire

"The film auteur of Nazi Germany par excellence, Leni Riefenstahl and her controversial legacy are examined in fascinating depth. An admirably thorough, at times obsessive look at the life and work of Leni Riefenstahl."
The Film Verdict

"Veiel stitches together Riefenstahl's letters, photos, interviews, phone calls, and films to create a damning and irrefutable portrait of the filmmaker. There is master filmmaking on display here. The way Veiel plays with Riefenstahl's own words and turns them against her is devastating and impactful. This is a masterclass on how to reveal the truth about someone who spent their entire life denying it."
"Riefenstahl presents itself as an academic exercise, pouring through thousands of hours of material to deliver an evidence-based exploration of one of Germany's most influential figures. In practice, it's an absorbing and exhilarating example of how thorough research pays enormous dividends. Such rigorous work risks feeling laborious, but Riefenstahl is a marvel."
The Daily Beast

"A fascinating exposé on the German director who denied for years that she had any deep knowledge of the Nazis' atrocities. She may have tried to assert her innocence through the years, but there is no hiding now with this documentary. An impressive undertaking for Veiel and editors Stephan Krumbiegel and Olaf Voigtländer. Photographs, old interviews, letters, film footage, private cassette tapes, and more cover almost all of Riefenstahl's 101 years of life. The film touches not only on her work but also on her troubled relationship with her father, her mother's high hopes, and her relationships with men."
Next Best Picture

"Director Andres Veiel convincingly suggests that even after putting down the camera, Riefenstahl never stopped crafting images, applying all her skill in later life to shaping how the public would perceive her and maintain her legacy."
"Although the recent rise of the far-right in various parts of the world may make Veiel's deep dive into the director's voluminous archives feel especially relevant, what may be more unsettling to contemporary audiences is the notion of a long, quiet campaign to cleanse a reputation could be so effective, with Riefenstahl having plenty of time when she made it to the ripe old age of 101."
The Moveable Fest

"9 out of 10 rating. One of the most eye-opening, chilling, fascinating, and frightening documentaries this year just premiered at the Venice Film Festival."
"For much of the film, I was wondering if Veiel is trying to portray Riefenstahl as a misunderstood artist unfairly scrutinized, or if he was going to lean in on hinting she has always been a Nazi. It's the latter. There's no debate anymore. After watching scene after scene of irrefutable evidence, which she always refutes, this becomes an eye-opening experience. By the end, I couldn't stop thinking this is a doc version of The Zone of Interest. It shows how a talented visionary artist who pioneered techniques could wholeheartedly support a dehumanizing ideology."
FirstShowing.net

"Andres Veiel creates a complex breakdown of German director Leni Riefenstahl's life and examines how effective people are at trying to rewrite history. What exactly Riefenstahl felt, knew or believed has been lost to time and her fantasies. But these fantasies, this urge to push a narrative so much that it becomes your bizarre truth: one would call it fake news today. And it still works extremely well. As a common denominator, this is what Veiel is trying to achieve: examining how effective people are, to this day, at trying to rewrite history."
Cineuropa