Born in Berlin on August 22, 1902, Riefenstahl began her long and extraordinary career as an interpretive dancer. The star of the CBC drama Bethune talks to the Front Page Challenge panel about portraying the renowned doctor and…. She was on her way to yet another doctor, trying to find one who could finally put her back on her dancing feet. Riefenstahl as the pilot Hella, who is trying to find her lost pilot husband in the Arctic ice. Directed by Edgar Reitz. After a knee injury temporarily halted her vocation, Riefenstahl became fascinated with the possibilities of the medium of film, especially nature films. Among archivists he was known as a pioneer of film preservation, but in the CBC archives Bill O'Farrell is fondly…. The Olympia crew of 60 cinematographers had shot over 1.3 million feet of film on three different types of film stock. He was just too afraid of a possible boycott of Disney films. Oscar winner and UNICEF ambassador Peter Ustinov comes to Anybody Home? Canada's Constitutional Debate: What Makes a Nation? Has Confederation Been Good for Newfoundland? The actor talks to CBC's Midday about his work playing the iconic horror movie villain. Its title was a taste of things to come: “Nazi Pin-up Girl: Hitler's No. Canadian director Ron Mann discusses his 1988 documentary about comic books. Elections, 1952-2005, N.B. Riefenstahl also directed. Leni Riefenstahl, who did more than any other artist to shape the image of the Third Reich, died in her sleep Monday night in Berlin. In 1991 the British actor recalls how he broke into Hollywood movies and created the memorable villain of Die Hard. Studio: Sokal. The Wondeful Horrible Life Of Leni Riefenstahl. Michael Moore discusses his Canada-inspired ideals and his new film Canadian Bacon. Freedom and partial denazification did not mean she could resume her career as a director, and she had more legal trials ahead of her. • In 1936 the German Olympic Committee commissioned Riefenstahl to document the Berlin Olympics. • "I cannot regret that I lived in that time," Riefenstahl said in a 1993 documentary about her. In 1992, author Joseph McBride talks about the career of film director Frank Capra. In a bizarre twist, Riefenstahl received an unsolicited affadavit of support from none other than her former foe Ernst Jäger. In 1964, the director of Psycho, The Birds and many other films discusses how he constructs his films for maximum…. Before long Riefenstahl found herself under arrest once again, this time by the French. Dr. Fanck's "Mountain of Destiny" held her so much in its spell that the young woman returned for repeat viewings every night for a week. • In 1933 Hitler asked Riefenstahl to film a Nazi rally. • After seeing Adolf Hitler speak at a rally - an experience she later said was so compelling it left her feeling "paralyzed" - Riefenstahl wrote to the soon-to-be Fuehrer in hopes of meeting him. ‘Are you Hitler's girlfriend?’ I laughed and answered the same way each time: ‘No, those are false rumours. Avi Lewis, director of The Take, reveals a passion for creative alternatives to globalization. Olympia premiered at Berlin's UFA Palast am Zoo cinema on Hitler's birthday, April 20, 1938. Halloween Across the Years, The Wrongful Conviction of David Milgaard, Pushing Past Borders: Canada & International Drug Trafficking, A Lost Heritage: Canada's Residential Schools, An Inuit Education: Honouring a Past, Creating a Future, Who Cares For Our Kids? "Instead of defending Riefenstahl as an alleged victim of 'libel', Jodie Foster should frankly confront the reality that Riefenstahl is an example of how art can be perverted to promote fascism, racism, and genocide," he said in 2005. They decided to move Riefenstahl to the French zone in Germany, where she ended up in the bombed-out ruins of Breisach near Freiburg. Although her 1934 documentary "Triumph of the Will" was the most dramatic and influential visual treatment of Nazism and the cult of Adolf Hitler, she maintained until the end that she was not a Nazi. For her Hollywood stay Riefenstahl booked a bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Riefenstahl was put in charge of filming the 1936 Berlin Olympics, no minor undertaking. How The East Was Won: Nova Scotia Elections Since 1949, How the West is Won: B.C. The French were still holding all the film material taken from her house in Austria. Also known as Avalanche. Her gaze happened to fall upon an advertising poster on the wall opposite the platform. Actor Ned Beatty talks about his career in film and his love of music in 1992. “Mountain of Destiny”. Leni Riefenstahl While the interest recently displayed in the films of Leni Riefenstahl in some quarters may be slightly suspect, it is also true that at this distance from the ... in his own words, as "the first specialist for mountain films made at altitudes above 12,000 feet. While some Directed by Rolf Raffe. In the 1920s and '30s, Riefenstahl appeared in a series of so-called Bergfilme directed by Arnold Fanck. Even that “final” decision was appealed by the French military government and the matter was closed six months later when the Baden State Commissariat classified Riefenstahl in absentia as a “fellow traveler.”. I did not join the party. To her dying day controversy surrounded Riefenstahl wherever she went and wherever her work was displayed. Despite a hostile press and the billboard equivalent of “Leni Go Home!,” the world's most famous (or infamous) female director gained an audience with Walt Disney, although he did refuse her offer of a private showing of Olympia. The German film director and photographer Leni Riefenstahl, who has died aged 101, will be remembered for two innovative, visually eloquent and … Der heilige Berg (1926, The Sacred Mountain). Re-edited and re-cut by Riefenstahl in 1951. She endured post-war chaos and was imprisoned (and escaped!) Adolf Hitler is seen only very briefly. The director of It's a Wonderful Life talks to CBC Radio's Assignment upon winning an award in 1959. Blue-eyed Hollywood heartthrob Paul Newman talks to CBC Radio in 1962 about his latest film. 1 Movie Actress.”. Murray Westgate talks to Bob McLean about hos role in Hollywood North and his Saskatchewan youth. The filmmaker and writer explain how they worked together to adapt Richler's novel Joshua Then and Now into a movie. A German-American coproduction shot on location in Greenland. Young Leni grew up in Berlin and lived at home until she was 21. The Americans were leaving Tyrol, which was to become part of the new French occupation zone. A tragic end to celebrated Quebec filmmaker's mysterious disappearance. But according to her memoirs, the course of her life was changed dramatically one day as she was waiting for a subway train at the Nollendorfplatz U-Bahn station in Berlin. She was Hitler's favorite director. • The New York Times said in 2003 that Olympia is "not blatantly propagandistic," in part because it shows the gold-medal wins of African-American sprinter Jesse Owens. “They kept asking me over and over again whether I was having a romance with Hitler. The famous actor looks back on his formative years in Canada, his career path and the tremendous impact of his…, Tony Thomas interviews 37-year-old actor Michael Caine, who is at the top of his game and enjoying all the trappings…. The colorful poster was promoting a movie with prophetic name Berg des Schicksals ("Mountain of Destiny"). In 1986 the director of Sixteen Candles and Pretty in Pink talks about filmmaking and his new movie, Ferris Bueller's…. No less disruptive for Riefenstahl's U.S. tour were the efforts of the Anti-Nazi League as well as a spy in her own entourage, one Ernst Jäger, who turned out not to be the loyal colleague Riefenstahl thought he was. Leni Riefenstahl (say it: REEF-in-shtall) was totally a being of her own creation. Softwood Lumber Dispute, Breaking the Ice: Canada and the Northwest Passage, The Confederation Bridge: P.E.I. Riefenstahl's directorial debut, in which she also played the role of Junta, the mountain girl. A 25-minute short consisting of outtakes from Triumph. Elections: Colourful Characters, Pivotal Points, Northwest Territories: Voting in Canada's North, P.E.I. Also known as Gita, the Goat Girl. Leni Riefenstahl, by her own account, grew into a true "child of nature, beneath trees and bushes, with plants and insects, watched over and protected." The Star Wars actor is the mystery guest on CBC's paranormal game show. In 1932 she directed and appeared in a feature, The Blue Light. He would later die in Hitler's war at age 38 on the Russian front. Triumph des Willens (1934, Triumph of the Will). An invitation to meet with Gary Cooper was suddenly and “regretfully” cancelled. Joel and Ethan Coen explain what 'Fargo' means to them. CBC visits the set of Ghostbusters for this profile of the Canadian-born movie producer and director. > Buy this movie on Video. The German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl died September 8 at the age of 101. The New Zealand director takes on family conflicts with her 1989 feature Sweetie. She points out that the rally in Triumph of the Will was staged and was created with the intention of filming it. Even more astonishing, however, is Ms. Sontag’s use of a purported quote from Riefenstahl’s 1935 book, Hinter den Kulissen des Reichsparteitag Films. Riefenstahl planned to release her first film since Tiefland in 1954 on her 100th birthday. Her father, Alfred Riefenstahl, was a prosperous businessman dealing in heating and ventilation. The result is considered a classic cinematic masterpiece. Sources: The German Hollywood Connection © 1997-2003 Hyde Flippo. In 1967 the filmmakers talk about why they founded the Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre for underground movies. Journalist Bill Cameron gives a tongue-in-cheek personal take on the 1977 movie Network. Showing more historical material about her life, according to Müller, also helps to compensate the strong image of herself that Riefenstahl tries to impose throughout the movie, giving the viewer a better chance to draw their own conclusions. Soon she would be appearing in movies directed by Fanck and co-starring Luis Trenker. • For Triumph of the Will, Riefenstahl shot about 400 kilometres of film which took almost two years to edit into a 114-minute documentary. Sontag uses the quote in an attempt to use Riefenstahl’s own words to disprove some of her later statements. Following the war in 1945, Riefenstahl had to face Allied charges that she was a Nazi or a Nazi sympathizer. Although her films have had enormous impact on world cinema, the woman herself found it difficult to gain public respect. Anticipation is high in Ottawa with the premiere of the third movie in the Star Wars saga. The often-imitated, seldom-honored artist remained a controversial and unrepentant pariah up until her death on 8 September 2003. Instead of going to the doctor, she left the station and soon found herself in a completely different world watching vivid, lifelike images of majestic mountains. Helene Bertha Amalie " Leni " Riefenstahl (German: [ˈleː.niː ˈʁiː.fn̩.ʃtaːl] (listen); 22 August 1902 – 8 September 2003) was a German film director, photographer, and actress, known for her seminal role in producing Nazi propaganda. The page you are looking at will not be updated. Despite being advised to move to the American zone, Riefenstahl was reluctant to move her massive film library (including the Olympia negatives) and she believed that her American denazification was valid for all the Allied powers. A young Sarah Polley speaks about her political activism. Pabst. Success as a dancer gave way to film acting when she attracted the attention of film director Arnold Fanck, subsequently starring in some of his mountaineering pictures.With Fanck as her mentor, Riefenstahl began directing films. The central theme was always human surrender to the power of nature. It was a success, winning several awards and showcasing techniques such as attaching a moving camera to a flagpole to capture panoramic crowd shots. Release was delayed by the war and Riefenstahl's Nazi connections. Even Disney would later make the unconvincing claim that he hadn't known who Riefenstahl really was. Connects, The St. Lawrence Seaway: Gateway to the World, Turning Up the Heat: Four Decades of Climate Change, Deadly Skies: Canada's Most Destructive Tornadoes, Devastating Dry Spells: Drought on the Prairies, Mercury Rising: The Poisoning of Grassy Narrows, The Sinking and Raising of the Irving Whale, Troubled Waters: Pollution in the Great Lakes, Tuberculosis: Old Disease, Continuing Threat, Cancer Research: The Canadian Quest for a Cure, Butting Out: The Slow Death of Smoking in Canada, Thalidomide: Bitter Pills, Broken Promises, The Krever Report: Canada's Tainted Blood Disaster, Dr. Henry Morgentaler: Fighting Canada's Abortion Laws, Getting Physical: Canada's Fitness Movement, A Woman's Place: Programming for the Modern Homemaker, Welcome Home, Soldier! Riefenstahl encountered resistance and protest from too many quarters. Following a successful operation on her knee, Riefenstahl met with Fanck at his home in Freiburg near the Black Forest. Jayne Mansfield blows into Toronto at the top of her career. • Leni Riefenstahl was born Helene Berta Amalie Riefenstahl in Berlin in August 1902. Directed by Arnold Fanck. Directed by Arnold Fanck. R. Lee Ermey, the actor who played Sgt. The 1993 film documentary about Riefenstahl by Ray Müller, The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl, is available in videotape and DVD versions. Contrary to rumour, it is in no way a propaganda movie, and as propaganda for any nation, its effect is definitely zero.” Such praise notwithstanding, the Third Reich-tainted Olympia never found a U.S. distributor, and a dejected Riefenstahl sailed for Germany. Role of Junta, the Sacred mountain ) 's film: die Macht der (! Resistance and protest from too many quarters to Anybody home before long Riefenstahl found fame in Adolf Hitler the. Movie Network the Olympia crew of 60 cinematographers had shot over 1.3 million feet of film, nature! 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