History Creator / LeniRiefenstahl

* BannedInChina: Aside from the obvious ban on her Nazi propaganda works in modern Germany outside of educational purposes on the dangers of the ideology, her very first film of that kind, ''Sieg des Glaubens'' (''Victory of the Faith'') was banned in 1934 by the Nazi leadership itself. The reason for this was the prominent role the SA (the infamous "Brown Shirts", paramilitary units of the Nazi party during its political ascent) had in it. The SA was purged of its leadership during the Night of the Long Knives in June 1934 and the organization's role was considerably reduced, so works showing them prominently (and especially their leader Ernst Röhm, who was executed during the purge) were not welcome anymore. All copies were believed to have been destroyed but one survived.

Leni's life and ties with the Nazi regime, and with UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler in particular, remain subject of controversy up to this day (she was notorious for suing anything published about her that she disapproved of), controversial enough for people like Creator/JodieFoster and Creator/StevenSoderbergh to back down on biopic projects about her. A Netflix series titled ''Leni'' was announced in 2021, based on filmmaker Nina Gladitz's [[https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/dec/09/burying-leni-riefenstahl-nina-gladitz-lifelong-crusade-hitler-film-maker extensive biography about her]].

* ''Der Sieg des Glaubens'' (''The Victory of the Faith'', 1933), documentary about a Nazi party rally following their taking power in 1933.

* TroubledProduction: She completed the shooting of ''Tiefland'' (''Lowlands'') in 1944, but the war prevented her from editing it. She resumed editing it in 1954. The production itself reportedly used prisoners from the Maxglan concentration camp as extras, who weren't paid and described the food and accommodation as ''worse'' than the camp. The shoot lasted thirteen months and by the end, the children and teenagers had outgrown the clothes they arrived in (they were forbidden from taking their costumes back), and those whose shoes wouldn't fit anymore had to walk barefoot to the nearest train station. One survivor, Rosa Winter, tried to escape because she feared for her mother's life back in the camp and, when she wouldn't apologise after being recaptured (claiming Riefenstahl ordered her to get on her knees and beg for forgiveness), she was imprisoned for five years in Ravensbrück on the director's orders. As the film was not released until after the War, Riefenstahl went to great efforts to keep the story hidden; successfully suing a magazine for writing about the on-set abuse of the Roma and Sinti extras, and got the documentary ''Time of Darkness & Silence'' banished to the archives because it had an interview with a survivor Josef Reinhardt[[note]]Not the French guitarist.[[/note]] who claimed that Reifenstahl had promised to save him and his family from being deported to Auschwitz. Another possible reason for the delay in editing was that the initial editor on it was Willy Zielke, who had filmed and edited the prologue of ''Olympia'' (although Reifenstahl had his name removed from the credits). He had been committed to a psychiatric facility for a nervous breakdown, but she checked him out of it to work on the film by appointing herself his legal guardian, and allegedly made him sleep in an unheated room with minimal guarded by her assistant to prevent him from escaping.

Leni's life and ties with the Nazi regime, and with UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler in particular, remain subject of controversy up to this day, controversial enough for people like Creator/JodieFoster and Creator/StevenSoderbergh to back down on biopic projects about her.

* TroubledProduction: She completed the shooting of ''Tiefland'' (''Lowlands'') in 1944, but the war prevented her from editing it. She resumed editing it in 1954.

Leni's life and relationship with the Nazi regime, and with UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler in particular, remain subject of controversy up to this day, controversial enough for people like Creator/JodieFoster and Creator/StevenSoderbergh to back down on biopic projects about her.

Her most well known directorial efforts were documentaries counting among the most visually striking and influential {{propaganda|machine}} pieces ever filmed. How influential? Ask Creator/GeorgeLucas, who took some cues from her when filming crowds in ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]]''.

* She's played by Creator/CariceVanHouten in ''Race'' (2016), which is about the story of Jesse Owens during the Berlin Olympic Games. To make her semi-sympathetic depiction tolerable, the real accounts of her squabbles with Joseph Goebbels about her filming of the Olympics, and of the African-American track star in particular, proved handy to highlight.

* She's played by Creator/CariceVanHouten in ''Race'' (2016), which is about the story of Jesse Owens during the Berlin Olympic Games. To make her semi-sympathetic depiction tolerable, the real accounts of her squabbles with Josef Goebbles about her filming of the Olympics, and of the African-American track star in particular, proved handy to highlight.