> Artists > Riefenstahl, Leni
Helene Amalia Bertha Riefenstahl was born on August 22, 1902, in Berlin-Wedding and early learned to assert her talent against the resistance of any kind. At first, it was her dad who did not know that she secretly took dancing classes with the support of her mother. Only when Leni briefly left the parental home after a violent argument, she was allowed to begin a classical ballet training with the Russian ex-ballerina Eduardowa. With her expressive dance style, she was celebrated in more than 70 solo performances and 15 own choreographies. A knee injury finally ended her dance career.
Her encounter with the director Arnold Franck and mountain actor Luis Trenker scored her a part in the film "The Holy Mountain" - the starting signal for another career - she quickly learns skiing and daredevil mountaineering maneuvers as an actress. In the movie "Storms over Mont Blanc" She crosses a 50-meter deep gap of the Bosson Glacier on a shaky ladder and accompanies Ernst Udet on the first plane ever to land on a glacier.
She also learns the film industry with Franck and finally directs some of the scenes for the first time. With the film "Das Blaue Licht," Leni Riefenstahl becomes known internationally as a director, leading actress, picture designer, and a producer.
At the 1st Film Biennale in Venice, she is awarded the silver medal, in France and England the film runs for months in front of sold-out houses. Charly Chaplin and Douglas send her congratulatory telegrams from Hollywood. Finally, Adolf Hitler also recognizes Leni Riefenstahl's exceptional talent and commissions her to make documentary films about Nazi party rallies - against the opposition of her own propaganda ministry, because Leni Riefenstahl was firstly a woman and secondly not a party member. As a result of these films, the director is now accused of decisively strengthening his emotional ties to Hitler and the NSDAP.
Nevertheless, her image design and montage are considered to be unsurpassed in intensity for their time, and her style has considerably shaped the films like "Starship Troopers" or "Star Wars - Episode I," in which the camera shots are deliberately recited. Riefenstahl's documentary "Olympia" is considered to be one of the 10 best films of all time by American directors, the film critic Richard Corliss, co-editor of "TIME" has even said: "All televised sport is indebted to 'Olympia.'"
Painting "Storm over Montblanc", Framed
Painting "Filming of Her Film Lowland in Kruen in the Karwendek Mountains", Framed
Painting "Tentacle of The Giant Actinia Stoichactis/British West Indies", Framed
Painting "Haarstern, Maldives", Framed
Painting "The Inflammation of the Olympic Flame", Framed