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DAS BLAUE LICHT NEWS WIRE
October 2001 The History Channel will present a one hour documentary on Leni Riefenstahl, October 23rd. The episode is one of a five part series called "Hitler's Women". Leni Riefenstahl's home web site establishes a link to dasblauelicht.net. Jodie Foster is reportedly now working with producer Gaby Bacher on the Leni Riefenstahl Project. A start date for filming is sometime in November 2001, after Foster has her second baby. Bacher states that "Jodie and I have already started intensive talks with Leni Riefenstahl about our film." Foster purportedly noted that production work has begun as of this time.Source: In Movies.Co UK In a Potsdam news conference, Babelsberg Studios reiterated that in the coming year the German studio will be filming the life history of Leni Riefenstahl. Jodie Foster has won the main role and will also act as co-producer . This in a recent press conference given by Gabriela Bacher, who is the new Studio exec of Babelsberg Motion Pictures GmbH. Bacher stated, "this topic belongs to Berlin, to Germany and in this region the film is to develop". Source, Newsropa, News Portal
August 2001 Reuter's news service reports that Leni Riefenstahl remains in ill health, with daily morphine injections due to back injury sustained in last years aircraft crash. However, she states that she is optimistic to see her next birthday when she turns 100. "It's hard for a person who was once 100 percent active to slowly realize that her strength is failing," Riefenstahl was quoted in an interview with Bunte magazine. "Illnesses pile up and one is no longer mentally so fit," Riefenstahl stated. In the Ireland Times, Jodie Foster is quoted in the birthday article about Leni Riefenstahl. Foster restates that Leni's life is "one of my film projects" under pre production. August 22, 2001 Leni Riefenstahl turns 99 years old. Olympia
is being broadcast on the web in its entirety. The site, Like
Television, has broken up the film in to its major event sequences.
The image can be selected from small to full screen and utilizes Real
Player. For fun, there are colorized jpegs which illustrate the
sections to be downloaded. Questions can be asked at info@liketelevision.com Munich's Odeon film studio reiterated that it has "the rights secured for filming the Leni Riefenstahl memoirs". Work purportedly is being coordinated out of Hamburg on the project, which is entitled "Penthesileas Persilschein". September will reportedly see a new book on Leni Riefenstahl. It is titled Des Scheinwerferin.
July 2001 Leni Riefenstahl was invited to receive from Juan Antonio Samaran, to the president of the IOC the gold medal of the Olympic Games from 1936 Berlin. Apparently due to the impending war only the Olympic diploma was given, and not the gold medal which she had won for her film Olympia. Source - www Leni Riefenstahl.de MSN online reports that Jodie Foster is continuing her pre production work on "the Leni Riefenstahl Project" at Egg Pictures. In an article which focused primarily on two upcoming releases (including a film by director David Fincher), Foster told MSN that her plans for the film were still moving ahead, "but our script isn't done and we want to get it right." Gabriela Bacher, Jodie Foster, Meg LeFauve are noted as producers on the project. June 2001 The Associated Press reported that a Russian documentary film festival was under fire by an angry public for inviting Leni Riefenstahl to appear at screenings of her film "Triumph des Willens" and "Olympia." In St. Petersburg, the festival organizers were rather disappointed at the public outcry, which apparently caused public and TV screenings of the films to be cancelled. " We made films for Stalin - why is this worse?", said Mikhail Litvyakov the festival director. "We need to learn professional tolerance." Apparently the films were shown, but at "closed screenings." Riefenstahl who made an appearance for her artistic achievement, stated that she wished "that toward me, as toward every person, there could be more forgiveness and kindness." The Toronto Star, in a review of Touchstone's Pearl Harbor, makes note of Riefenstahl's influence. "...it's not presumptuous to cite Leni Riefenstahl as the most influential filmmaker of the 20th Century", writer Geoff Pevere notes. Although the review is mostly negative regarding the "wham bam blockbusterism" of current Hollywood product, the skill by which Riefenstahl crafted Triumph des Willens is clearly held in respect ("... staggeringly effective..."). May 2001 The new DVD release of Triumph des Willens is reviewed (click here) Triumph des Willens and Olympia are featured at the Tampere Film Festival in Finland.
April 2001 Online news sources report that Riefenstahl's biopic project (Odeon Film Studios, Germany) has at least been considering Oliver Stone to direct and actress Sharon Stone to star. This is of course in spite of the pre production work being done by Egg Pictures, owned by Jodie Foster. Stone is the third American actress (between the two competing film projects) to be referenced in the much sought after role, Madonna being an initial consideration a couple of years back and of course, Foster in her own production. Jodie Foster
or Sharon Stone to star in a movie about Leni Riefenstahl ??? From the International Movie Data Base : "the director (Riefenstahl) is co-operating with German producer Thomas Schuly, who wants Sharon Stone and Oliver Stone to be involved in the biopic. A production source says, 'They're hoping to beat Jodie's project to the punch and think they can do her one better.' " March 2001 Due to the " overwhelming and positive response " of Fahey/Klein Gallery's Leni Riefenstahl photo exhibition, the show has been held over by a month. Co-owners David Fahey and Ken Devlin have related that the show will now run through April 2001. (see link below) Exclusive art venue, Fahey/Klein Gallery in Los Angeles will feature Riefenstahl's photography of Olympia in an exhibit due to run March 1st thru the 24th. This is the first American exhibit of Riefenstahl photographs and replicates the Berlin exhibit from last year. http://faheykleingallery.com/home.ht Synapse Video again delays the release of Triumph des Willens on DVD. The street date is now early April, 2001. Synapse exec Don May reports that the difficulty and delays have resulted in part due to clearances on supplementary materials. From
the official Odeon Film Studios
web site it was reported that
"work was completed on Leni Riefenstahl’s Ein Traum von Afrika."
German film director Ray Mueller ( maker of
Die Macht der Bilder,
aka The Wonderful Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl)
"accompanies the director on her final trip to the Nuba tribe in
the Sudan", people whom Riefenstahl refers to as those “people
from a different star”. February 2001 Synapse Video again delays the release of Triumph des Willens on DVD. This special edition issue which includes a secondary audio commentary has been plagued with release delays. Initially due to street in summer 2000, it was pushed back again from February to early March 2001. The London Times. Jodie Foster's publicist, Pat Kingsley, commented: "If Jodie does the film - and there is a script being written - she's doing it without the involvement of Leni Riefenstahl. There may or may not be a movie. It depends on the material submitted to Jodie." It is unclear to them if they can make a theatrical film. It may be released as a video production...
January 2001 Leni Riefenstahl featured in a cover story for Vanity Fair magazine profiling photographers and artists over 80. Online news reports noted minor protests late in 2000 at Paramount Studios over the "Leni Riefenstahl Project" being produced by Jodie Foster. Paramount states that although they are renting space for Foster and her crew, they are not involved in the production. Protesters were wielding signs and chanting slogans such as "Jodie Foster wants to glorify a Nazi" and "Stop Jodie's project now." Other online "in production" web pages make note that the film is on the boards, but no updates on its progress. One listed at the project as being in "development hell." German Cinema Magazine reports that Odeon films of Germany has reported a collaboration with Munich-based producer Thomas Schühly to develop and produce the Riefenstahl film project in Germany.Schühly acquired the rights to controversial filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl's memoirs. Odeon Pictures has since produced a documentary with Leni and director Ray Müller as part of their preparation for the Riefenstahl feature film. "The development has taken somewhat longer than we had imagined" an Odeon rep states, "but we are aware of the high responsibility and the fact that the project attracts a lot of attention. We don't see it simply as a biopic, it is more of a treatment of the issues of art and politics and power and the role of women. We have to undertake a trapeze act to bring these points of tension together in a sensible manner." November 2000
Taschen publications' releases Leni Riefenstahl : Five Lives for worldwide distribution. Riefenstahl is major contributor for artifacts, photography and artistic direction. Book gives first glimpse of recent Nuba expedition and resulting crash. Riefenstahl is featured in a brief interview on the BBC. IFilm reports that Jodie Foster's intent to film the life of Leni Riefenstahl with her own production company, Egg Productions is continuing. " She is an amazing character ... and technically one of the finest woman filmmakers ever. I really want to do this story right, as a vary complex, cautionary, moral centered tale", Foster says. October 2000 Rainer Rother releases his Riefenstahl essay ,The Seduction of Genius, in Germany ( Henschel Publishing House, 2000). Rother later participates in the History Channel's production of "Hitler's Women" in late 2001. David Hinton's The Films of Leni Riefenstahl is reprinted for Scarecrow Press. A brief bio-piece on Riefenstahl, Fallen Angel by Thomas Leeflang is released, Whale Castle Press, 2000. August 2000 Leni Riefenstahl turns 98. Variety magazine reports that Jodie Foster's Egg Productions "moves ahead." This despite the fact that Riefenstahl has reported her own intent to see a German production of her biography. Academy Award winning screenwriter Ron Nyswaner is preparing a "first draft for Jodie to star as Hitler's favorite filmmaker." Short series DVD release of Riefenstahl's Tag der Freiheit for the first time on video. The 17 minute film includes a secondary audio by film historian, Robert von Dassanowsky . May 2000 Leni Riefenstahl's photographic work for the 1936 Olympics is exhibited in Berlin. This is the first time that her artistry has been on display in her home city. Synapse video announces an all new transfer of Triumph des Willens on DVD. Release date is set for September 12, 2000. Features include 120 min running time, window boxed full frame, newly translated (removable) English subtitles, audio commentary by a "noted film historian", and the Riefenstahl short film " Day of Freedom". The announcement comes with the disclaimer " the issues and views presented in Triumph of the Will are in no way endorsed or supported by Synapse Films, Inc. " with a portion of the profits going to the US Holocaust Museum.
March 2000 While on location in the Sudan with her beloved Nuba tribesmen, Leni Riefenstahl and her crew are involved in a nearly fatal crash of their chartered helicopter. The 23 year hiatus and reunion between the Nuba and Riefenstahl, was already clouded by international protests against the German government for assisting her in the travel / visa arrangements that were difficult to obtain owing to the political and civil strife of the region. Riefenstahl suffered back, neck and rib cage injuries which has since limited her physical abilities. Germany's Odeon Films is developing the project on Leni Riefenstahl's biography, 'Memoiren', and a biography by Ernst Junger called 'Stahlgewittern' it was announced online in this month. December 1999 Leni Riefenstahl and German Odeon Films announce their plans to film a biographical depiction of her life. This comes within days of actress/producer/director Jodie Foster announces her intent to produce, direct and star as Riefenstahl in an American version of Leni's life. Her own company, Egg Productions will finance what is called "The Leni Riefenstahl Project." Although several meetings occur between Foster and Riefenstahl, Leni eventually distances herself from the project. There is almost immediate condemnation of Foster from the Jewish community for her efforts to pursue Riefenstahl as a film subject. 1997 -1998 Riefenstahl is honored by retrospective exhibitions of her films and photography in Potsdam and Leipzig Germany. Despite the tribute, her work and Riefenstahl's presence at the galleries is the subject of multiple German and international editorials and articles, some quite negative. In late 1997 Leni Riefenstahl receives an award for her silent film work as an actress at Cinecon, Hollywood. Cinecon is accused of "sneaking" Riefenstahl in and the award ceremony is disrupted by audience members protesting her Nazi past. Various local Jewish leaders speak out against Riefenstahl's presence and her association with Hitler.
1993 Ray Mueller's award winning documentary, " The Power of Images " (aka "The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl " ) is released. 1991-1992 Internationally renowned artist Eiko Ishioko designs the first full exhibit of Leni Riefenstahl's work in Japan. Leni Riefenstahl's autobiography, Memoiren ( aka Sieve of Time ) is released in English in the U.K.
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