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RIEFENSTAHL'S FILM CREW, INCLUDING DIRECTOR RAY MULLER, IN THE SUDAN. EARLY 2000

Riefenstahl had been stating repeatedly that her intent was to try and locate and visit the friends she had made in the Sudan with the Nuba tribesmen. Despite international outcry for her to not be allowed a visa, the governments of both Germany and the Sudan assisted in facilitating the reunion.

Leni Riefenstahl in the Sudan. Power & Glory Films, 2000. Directed by Ray Muller (58 mins)

Although she would find the people she had lived with so many years previously, the trip was fraught with peril. After 23 years of absence she found the region wrought with civil war, poverty, hardship.

Likewise, at the age of 97 her trip would end with a near fatal helicopter crash, when on February 29, 2000 in Central Sudan as the aircraft was apparently taking off, it suddenly lost control and flipped over several times. Riefenstahl's camera crew were more seriously injured than she, though the German Foreign Ministry had to send in a jet to deliver her to a Berlin hospital. She has been in recovery and in need of physical therapy since that time.

Under Water Documentary Released in 2002

Not willing to let her image succumb to the fates of the impending Jodie Foster Hollywood biopic, Leni Riefenstahl has completed editing on her under water documentary. It was in fact released to coincide with the celebration of her 100th birthday in August of 2002.

The January 8, 2002 news story, which was carried in all the major trades, noted that "Impressionen unter Wasser will in fact be Riefenstahl's first release in nearly 50 years. According to the report in the Los Angeles Times Riefenstahl stated, "As soon as the [composer] Giorgio Moroder has finished writing the soundtrack, we'll have the premiere..." The film is directed by Riefenstahl with longtime companion and co-filmmaker, Horst Kettner as the primary cameraman.

[ See the Impressionen unter Wasser page ]

THE LENI RIEFENSTAHL PROJECTS

In November 1999, Leni Riefenstahl and Odeon Films announced that a biographical film on her life was due to start production. Within a few days of that announcement, filmmaker and actress Jodie Foster announced that her production company, Egg Pictures, was also intent on filming Riefenstahl's life. Foster would probably direct and certainly star as Leni.

Actress, Producer, Director Jodie Foster. "The Leni Riefenstahl Project" announced 12-01-99

Although it is known that Foster and Riefenstahl have met , there is no formal authorization being given to the Egg Pictures film by the German filmmaker.

In October of 2000 Paramount Studios was the site of a small protest which objected to the use of the studio by Foster's Egg Pictures. The protestors were stating that they have been "horrified" at the idea that Jodie Foster would produce a film that will be "glorifying" Leni Riefenstahl.

On August 31 2001 Foster's Egg Pictures partner, Meg Lefauve admitted that the project had not only hired Oscar winning writer Ron Nyswaner, but stated the film was going forward and would be "very provocative."

Riefenstahl has maintained that Foster's film will not be based on her written Memoirs and therefore cannot be considered representative of her life.

"In America it is not possible for an artist to protest if they [the filmmakers] make something wrong. And you know my life, connected to Hitler and the past with the Third Reich, and all the rumors about my life, it's possible to make a horrible film. And I wouldn't be able to stop it", Riefenstahl has said regarding her inability to support Foster's film project.

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Almost four years after Foster rushed to announce the Riefenstahl film as something very close to her and a project with high priority, it is now in "development hell" (as one industry trade put it). To this date, there remains no clear indication on the content of the script or when the film will be made. There has been some discussion that it may only be a television release.

Now that Foster has closed down Egg Pictures (January 2002) and her long time movie project, Flora Plum is indefinitely postponed, she has hinted that the Riefenstahl Project is on her list of "many things, none for sure" (April 2002).

Foster has stated that she intends to film the movie because Riefenstahl "was perhaps one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, and yet her name will be linked to the horror of Nazi Germany...There is no other woman like her in the 20th century who has been so admired and so vilified..."

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