International Cinema @ SUU screening

(2024) – Germany – Documentary

Language: German (115 minutes)

Synopsis: Our 2026 film festival begins with Riefenstahl, by celebrated German documentary filmmaker Andres Veiel. Here, he reexamines one of the most controversial figures in cinema history: innovative, though notorious German director Leni Riefenstahl. Riefenstahl, admired by Adolf Hitler, promoted her career by making a series of now-contested propaganda films in the 1930s for the Nazi Party (such as Triumph of the Will), though after World War II she denied any responsibility for her role in Nazi visual culture. She infamously claimed that she was only interested in art, not politics. Veiel peels back the layers, asking whether art can ever be separated from politics, leaving us with the question: is any image innocent when wielded by those with cruel intentions?