“Riefenstahl”, interview with producer Sandra Maischberger

At the 81th Venice Film Festival, Fred Film Radio interviewed Sandra Maischberger, the producer of “Riefenstahl”, a documentary directed by Andres Veiel featured Out of Competition. A fascinating look into the private archive of Leni Riefenstahl, who rose to world fame with her Nazi propaganda film “Triumph of the Will”, but who always denied any close ties to the regime.

Why a documentary about Leni Reifenstahl?

It’s incredible how Leni Riefenstahl, what she represents and her work are more relevant today than ever. And how his figure remains an enigma for a long time, especially due to his connection with Nazism which he tried to minimize for years. “Leni Riefenstahl died many years ago, but her husband passed away in 2017, and there was this house full of documents, films, tapes, whatever she left behind”, tells Sandra Maischberger. “And I knew that I could get a hold on this estate. I met her many years ago doing an interview, and I could feel that she was lying. But now with the estate, I can prove it”.

Andres Veiel, the right man to tell this story

Lots of archive material to deal with and a complex figure to tell in all its complex nuances. Why is Andres Veiel the right person to direct “Riefenstahl”? “For two main reasons. First, he did Beuys, which is a brilliant documentary about Josefh Beuys, an artist. And already there he had to cope with a lot of material, with a lot of things which are not moving, papers and evidence and so on. And he did it brilliantly, and I thought he’s the best choice for this film. And then secondly, you deal with Leni Riefenstahl. She is a master director and created images which are still prevailing today. So you cannot just put someone to make a simple documentary telling the story. It must be an artwork by itself”.

A crucial moment of our history

From the United States to Europe far right movements have found fertile ground in the last few years also because of the many Riefenstahl of the world? “That was one of the questions we had to answer because her aesthetics is still here”, tells Sandra Maischberger . “The question we had to answer is, if the aesthetic is here, maybe as well the ideas behind it. So are we facing a time where fascism, nationalism, imperialism is coming back? And this is my feeling about the time we’re living in. I think that we are in a crucial moment of history and I don’t want to go back to where we already have been looking at Leni Riefenstahl and what the Nazis did. So it’s a film about a historical person but at the same time it’s a film about what’s going on, what could become in the future for us, in Europe especially”.

Plot