Leni: The Life and Work of Leni Riefenstahl

Known as “Hitler's Filmmaker,” Leni Riefenstahl directed two of the most innovative and effective propaganda documentaries ever made, Triumph of the Will (1935) and Olympia (1938), which glorified the Third Reich. In this definitive biography, Steven Bach illuminates the truths and lies regarding the self-proclaimed apolitical artist's involvement with Hitler and other Nazi leaders who financed and advanced her career. Leni is a story of huge talent and even huger determination, the story of a woman who was unable to express remorse for the millions murdered by the Nazi regime she elevated to mythic proportions. Probing the sometimes-blurred borders that divide art and beauty from truth and humanity, Bach untangles the past and gives an objective but unsparing appraisal of a woman of spectacular gifts who was corrupted by ruthless personal ambition.