What was the name of a famous female directors in Nazi Germany?

I studied her for a while. . .

A rare genius is German female directors leni riefenstahl (1902-2003) who made a documentary for the Nazis. 1902 On August 22nd, Rifenstar was born in a wealthy family in Berlin, Germany. As a teenager, she studied oil painting and ballet in an art school in Berlin. Because of her dancing experience, she used to call herself an athlete. This girl, who loved myths since childhood, fell in love with the popular "Mountain Movie" at that time, which was a German movie with original mythological color and hero as the protagonist. She not only became a smash hit because of her outstanding performance in this kind of movies, but also successfully directed a mountain movie Blu-ray (1932), which made Hitler her admirer. 1935, Hitler, who had just usurped power, summoned Riefenstahl and entrusted her to film the annual meeting of the National Socialist German Workers' Party held two days later. Rivenstal went into filming before he could prepare. Due to Goebbels' many obstacles, the shooting process was very unsatisfactory. Finally, he finished a short film called "Victory of Faith", which was only shown once and then was silent. The following year, Hitler invited Rifenstar to film the Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg. At first, Riefenstahl was reluctant. She recommended Walter Roesman, director of Berlin: Metropolitan Symphony, to direct the film, but Hitler insisted on his request again and again and said to female directors, "Give me your life for six days, and you will never work for me against your will again." Rivesta finally agreed to his request, on the condition that she would never make any films for the party again. In fact, apart from a short film "Freedom Day: Our Army" made by 1935, Rivesta did not make any films for the Nazi Party. Rivesta is an artist who doesn't care much about politics. When she filmed Victory of Will and Olympia, she even insisted on hiring photographers of Jewish descent again and again, although the latter repeatedly reminded her that it was inappropriate to do so.

Rivenstal is a very dedicated director. After accepting Hitler's film contract, she immediately set out to form a film team of 120 people, including 16 chief photographers, their assistants and related technicians. Rivenstar has 30 cameras, 4 audio tracks and 22 cars equipped with police. On the eve of the meeting, Ri Finstad arranged accommodation for the 120 people regardless of all unexpected difficulties, and immediately led technicians to arrange the shooting location in Nuremberg. Luipoldhain's 120-foot flagpole is installed in the elevator, so that the photographer can rise to the top of the flagpole in a few seconds and take pictures overhead. A two-story ramp was built in Hitler Square, so that the camera car could photograph the moving queue in parallel. A fire truck is always on standby, and its mobile ladder is as high as 90 feet, which can send photographers into the sky at any time, sweeping the roofs, monuments, parades and banners held high in Nuremberg; The main venue of the party congress was even built and arranged according to the needs of shooting. When all this was ready, Riefenstahl led her huge team into a week of intense filming. From September 4th, 1934 to September 4th, 10, Riefenstahl commanded photographers and all kinds of related personnel like a war, leaving enough image evidence for the German nation and people all over the world at the critical historical juncture. After several months of editing, this documentary titled Victory of Will premiered in March 1935, and was immediately praised as a masterpiece by Germans. Since then, it has also won gold medals in Venice (1935) and Paris World Expo (1937).

Many years later, when Americans decided to take part in the world anti-fascist war, it was after watching this film that Hollywood director frank capra, who was invited to wave the flag and shout for the war, came up with the idea of shooting a series of films called "Why Fight". It is said that after watching this chilling "enemy film", his first thought was that if American soldiers could see this film, they would definitely know why they were fighting. This shows from one side how Riffenstahl, a talented movie eye, is good at capturing essential elements, even evil elements, in historical events. Rivenstar didn't create a scene for the camera, she just reflected all the active factors in the scene on the movie screen in line with the vocation of a recorder. This documentary did not use off-screen commentary, but let the picture itself and the remarks and sounds collected from the scene explain the problem. Of course, the film deified Hitler as a national hero of Siegfried style, and there must be subjective elements in the arrangement. However, such a false historical consciousness was a real historical force at that time, which not only represented Nazi ideology, but also represented the mentality of most people in Germany. The subtitle used in Victory of Will is the embodiment of the German people's "historical consciousness" in this period:

1September 5, 934

Twenty years after the outbreak of World War I

After the beginning of Germany's bitter career 16 years.

1September after the rebirth of Germany.

Adolf Hitler flew to Nuremberg again.

To review his loyal followers.

If I am reluctant to record the Nuremberg Congress, then filming 1936 Berlin Olympic Games is entirely voluntary. It should be said that this film has little to do with the Nazi government. Although Hitler himself maintained a consistent support attitude towards Riffenstahl, Riffenstahl did not want any official factors to intervene. She bypassed the Fuehrer and contacted the International Olympic Committee directly, and finally got the authorization and support from the International Olympic Committee. 1939, the International Olympic Committee specially awarded Rivenstar an "Olympic Gold Medal" in recognition of her hard work in filming this documentary. In fact, the propaganda department led by Goebbels was also filming an Olympic film. They took an exclusive and unfriendly attitude towards Rivesta's film crew, and even interfered with Rivesta's films, such as ordering her to delete the scenes about black athletes winning the championship, but Rivesta cleverly bypassed the censorship of the propaganda department and produced the uncensored full version of Olympia at the premiere of 1938. As the general director and fund-raiser of this film, Rifenstar and his own shareholders set up an "Olympia Limited Company". A few months before the Olympic Games, the company signed a contract with Tobies Film Company for 750,000 imperial marks. Together with the translation and production expenses for overseas promotion, 12 science and education documentaries related to sports, and a large number of sports film documents, the total project funds of Olympia are 2.2 million imperial marks (about $5238 10/0 in 1938), according to the German weekly Der Spiegel 1952.

Olympia consists of two feature-length documentaries with a non-political theme. 1958 In "The Shooting Notes of Olympia", Livingstar recalled that the themes she established for this film at that time were: sports competition, the beauty of sports and the Olympic spirit. Rifenstar said that her films should show the fierce competition process, the athletes' strong physique, agile posture and their strength in the process of sports, and also reflect an Olympic spirit: the spirit of peaceful competition between young people from all countries and the world, and trace back to the occurrence and development of this spirit and its influence on the world.

This is another unprecedented shooting incident. Rifenstar recruited 80 photographers and photo assistants this time, and arranged 30 supply personnel at the station. The other two teams, one team went to Greece, from where they followed the torch athletes across seven countries, and the other team was stationed at the Kiel Rowing Yard in Germany. As early as a few months before the competition, Riefenstahl led a working group composed of photographers and technicians to inspect the stadium, find suitable shooting spots, test various possible shooting angles, determine the film and aperture coefficient in advance, and consider various possible accidents. This is a very difficult shooting, because it has to track the high-speed movement in a few seconds and deal with various accidents including weather and light. Rivesta's keynote for this film is: "This film must be a documentary. Nothing can be left out, but the bottom line of the Olympic organizing Committee is not to interfere with the game. Rifenstar's shooting focuses on field events and track events, which requires photographers to enter the core part of the stadium, which has been strictly restricted in previous Olympic Games. Riventhal felt difficult, but she was not discouraged. She bargained with the organizing Committee again and again, and finally got the minimum shooting conditions she needed:

1, two photography ditches can be dug on the elevated platform, a photography ditch can be dug 5 meters after the starting line of the 100-meter race, a photography ditch can be dug at the finish line, and a movie ditch can be dug on the long jump runway;

2. During the venue competition, you can build three photo towers in the center of the stadium, one after the starting line of the 100-meter race, and a photo runway behind the fence of the hammer throw competition. These facilities must be dismantled immediately after use;

Up to six photographers can enter the center of the stadium, and cameras that automatically run on the track are not allowed (this ban was later broken).

In addition, Rivesta also arranged planes and balloons over the stadium, installed fixed cameras on ships and horseback, and installed a camera track on one side of the runway. 1936 On July 20th, the Olympic flame was lit in Greece. From that day on, the film crew, under the command of Riefenstahl, threw themselves into a tense battle without a minute's slack. In the 16 day competition, the film crew * * * shot 65438+200,000 feet of material. In the remaining 65,438+08 months, Riefenstahl shut herself in the editing room and edited 654,380+200,000 feet of movies without an assistant director and artistic director, which not only seriously damaged her health, but also

But Olympia, which lasted for three and a half hours, was a success after all and won many awards and praises. Later, Finstad wanted to make a feature film called Penthesilea, in which she played the belligerent Amazon Queen in Greek mythology, but the sudden war interrupted her filming plan and she didn't make the film until her death. After the end of World War II, Rifenstar was put into prison on suspicion of being involved with the Nazis. 1952, the west Berlin court made the final judgment: "rifenstar ... didn't participate in the punishable political activities supporting Nazi rule ... didn't devote herself to establishing ties unrelated to her artistic career ... there was no ambiguous relationship between her and Hitler." After regaining her freedom, Riefenstahl tried to restore her status as a filmmaker, but invisible doubts and condemnations often fell on her. 1956, Rivenstar began her trip to Africa, where she not only "reborn", but also began to shoot a semi-fictional documentary called slave ship to express her indignation at the modern slave trade. But because of money, war, car accident, weather and other reasons, the film has not been released. Since 1962, Li Finstad has visited the primitive tribes in the Nuba Mountains for investigation and filming. Although she was not the first person to film them, she was the first outsider accepted by the dark-skinned Nuba people, and she was allowed to film the sacred ceremony of the Nuba people. From 1965, attracted by the metallic elegance and aesthetic lifestyle of the Nuba people, the 62-year-old man began to shoot a color documentary about the Nuba people, recording this primitive civilization that is on the verge of collapse. At the same time, Rifenstar published and exhibited some photos of primitive tribes in East Africa and Nuba, such as Nuba and Kau Nuba, which made her once again the focus of the world. Rifenstar said that she only shoots good-looking people and good-looking things, not because she personally doesn't like sick people, but because shooting good-looking people can bring pleasure to the audience.

At the age of 7 1, Rifenstar took part in diving training, and she wanted to realize one of her old dreams: filming the underwater world. Soon, she really became an excellent underwater photographer and published two illustrated works, Coral Garden and Underwater Wonders. Since then, Rifenstar has traveled to the most beautiful diving area many times to shoot her underwater documentary. Until he was 94 years old, Rifenstar still wore a diving mirror and went to the sea near Cocoa Island to shoot sharks. At the age of 97, Ri Finstad decided to go to Sudan again to visit and help the Nuba people who were isolated by the war. Rivesta hasn't seen her Nuba friend for 23 years. For this trip, she held many consultations with the Sudanese government and even got in touch with the rebel leaders. In February 2000, Rifenstar led a small photographic team to Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, where, after a long wait and difficult negotiations, the authorities finally agreed to let them go to the Nuba Mountains. Thousands of Nuba people are eagerly looking forward to her arrival. There, she found that many close friends were victims of the civil war. Just as Rifenstar was preparing to continue to record the living Nuba friends, a new war broke out and she had to leave the Nuba Mountain area by helicopter with the camera team immediately. Another disaster befell them, and the helicopter crashed. Fortunately, no one died. A rescue plane took Rifenstar to a German hospital, where the 90-year-old man was found with a broken rib and a lung injury. Despite this terrible event, the energetic old man didn't give up his plan to go to Sudan again.

On September 9, 2003, this centenarian, full of ups and downs and legends, passed away safely at his home near Munich. Rivesta's fascination with documentary cameras and her passionate work style make us have to admit that she is a movie eye in the sense of Wiltoff, but on the other hand, we can only say that she is not a pure movie eye. Compared with Wiltoff's civilian films, her films are more aristocratic. She is obsessed with the beauty of life, but she doesn't care about the whole of life. She is good at making documentaries, but her job is more like a feature film director. She refused to admit that Victory of the Will was a propaganda film, but it was because it was "artistic" that it was inflammatory. She never cared about politics, so she was used by politics. Rivesta and Wiltoff, two great cinematographers, respectively represent two opposing artistic routes pointed out by Benjamin: the aestheticization of politics (fascism) and the politicization of art (* * * productism). Here, the politics in "politicizing art" should not be understood as the politics of imperial edict, but the politics related to the rights of each of us. Wiltoff's Film Pravda once set a model for this kind of politics in the form of movies: a "bottom-up" politics that does not proceed from the orders of superiors. Wiltoff's film practice tells us that people have the right to record and observe their own lives through the eyes of movies. This call is still of practical significance today.