BERLIN (voa) – German film-making legend Leni Riefenstahl, famous for making movies for Adolf Hitler, has announced she will release her first film since 1954, in time for her 100th birthday in August.
Ms. Riefenstahl told the German newspaper Die Welt that she is finishing a film called Impressions Under Water, a 45-minute compilation of footage she took during 2000 dives in the Indian Ocean over the past quarter-century.
The artist gave up filmmaking in favor of still photography during the 1950’s, possibly to leave behind her reputation as a Nazi propaganda artist. Her 1930s film Triumph of the Will, which glorified the career of Adolf Hitler, has been called the best propaganda film ever made. She is also famous for Olympia, which chronicled the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
After the fall of the Third Reich, Ms. Riefenstahl said her association with Hitler was the product of her own naivete. The leader’s influence was, “uncanny. He had us all under his spell,” she said.
Ms. Riefenstahl has since pursued less controversial topics with photographs of natural subjects, including the Nuba people of Sudan. The British newspaper, The Independent, says she has plans for a Riefenstahl museum to open after her death.
