Helene (Leni) Bertha Amalie Riefenstahl was born on 22nd August 1902 in her parent’s apartment in Berlin. Growing up, her main aspiration was to be able to dance on stage, even though it was against her fathers will. At the age of 21, Leni performed her first solo dance recital in Berlin in 1923, but her dreams of becoming a dancer were shattered time and time again by injuries.

However, this misfortune led to her new found love of cinematography after she came across an advertisement for Arnold Fanck’s new film “Mountain of Destiny”. Riefenstahl became transfixed by Fanck’s film and was so impressed she decided to visit the Dolomites for herself. While there, she chanced upon Fanck and his lead actor (who later became her husband) Luis Trenker. This in turn led to Leni starring in the “Holy Mountain” (1926).

The Holy Mountain encountered an immeasurable amount of difficulties during production due to bad weather, injuries etc. These misfortunes proved to be advantageous to Riefenstahl who took the opportunity to learn about editing, developing and printing film. She also ceased the opportunity to do work behind the camera

With the outbreak of World War II, Riefenstahl ceased upon an opportunity to do combat reporting at the front. In the Polish village of Konskie, she witnessed the German army on a shooting spree of Polish citizens. Riefenstahl returned to Germany, disgusted and horrified at the events, refusing to continue her work at the front. She began work to revive her ill-fated Tiefland.

In Berlin 1945, Russian army marched into the city, and within a month, Germany had surrendered. Leni Riefenstahl was arrested by the American Army as a Nazi sympathizer and sent to an American prison camp.

The Blue Light premiered in 1932 and proved to be a great success. It was enthusiastically received in the USA, Britain and France, and won the silver medal at the following Venice Biennale film festival. The success of this film was seen by, amongst others, Adolf Hitler, who was impressed with Riefenstahl’s work.

These events which took place during the 1920’s until 1945, shaped Leni Riefenstahl into the great cinematographer that she is, despite the criticism which came along with her success. Her early works with Bergfilm, influenced the way in which she produced images (eg. close-ups, high angles etc), and allowed her to use this new technique in all her film

Some topics in this essay:
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