Screening times:
Thursday, October 2, 6:30 PM - Fall Season Opening Screening!
Sunday, October 5, 5:30 PM
Andres Veiel | Germany | 2024 | 115m
English and German with English subtitles
Carbon Arc Cinema officially resumes screening four nights a week on October 2nd with Riefenstahl. In an era where fascism is on the rise again, fake news is prevalent, and the meaning of political imagery is constantly dissected and debated, Andres Veiel's mesmerizing new film shows that Leni Riefenstahl is more relevant than ever.
Filmmaker and Nazi propagandist Leni Riefenstahl is considered one of the most controversial women of the 20th century. Her films Triumph of the Will and Olympia are defined by their fascist aesthetics, perfectly-staged body worship, and the celebration of all that is "superior" and victorious, simultaneously projecting contempt for the imperfect and weak.
But Riefenstahl – who first broke into the German film industry as an actor – spent decades after the war denying her association with Nazi ideology, and claiming ignorance of the Holocaust. How did she become the Reich's preeminent filmmaker if she was just a hired hand? Riefenstahl examines this question using never-before-seen documents from Leni Riefenstahl's estate, including private films, photos, recordings and letters, uncovering fragments of her biography and placing them in an extended historical context.
During her long life after the fall of Nazism, she remained unapologetic, managing to control and shape her legacy; in personal documents she mourns her "murdered ideals." Meanwhile, her work would experience a renaissance, gaining esteem for its masterful technical skill.
Today, Riefenstahl's aesthetics are more present than ever. Is that also true for their message? In an era where fascism is on the rise again, fake news is prevalent, and the meaning of political imagery is constantly dissected and debated, Andres Veiel's mesmerizing new film shows that Leni Riefenstahl is more relevant than ever, for better or worse.
“It answers Riefenstahl’s carefully chosen narrative, a fable of disillusioned purity, with an equally forensic counternarrative exposing her childlike narcissism about the impact of her talent.” - Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times
“It’s not just a meticulously researched portrait of a (like it or not) female filmmaking pioneer, but also a demonstration of how disinformation works on a mass scale. It’s Gaslighting 101.” - G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle
“In his coolly damning documentary 'Riefenstahl,' the German filmmaker Andres Veiel joins a persistent cohort of skeptics and detractors who have long challenged Riefenstahl’s self-serving identity as an innocent artist.” - Manohla Dargis, New York Times
$12 ($11.40 cash at the door if available)
Price includes HST
