Olympia. 2. Teil: Fest der Schönheit
Leni Riefenstahl / DEUZE, 1938 / 96 min.
As part of the programme of Amsterdam Art Week, Eye presents the newly restored film Olympia Teil 2. Fest der Schönheit by Leni Riefenstahl. This film from 1938 is as influential as it is controversial. The film will be introduced by Marian Cousijn (Eye) in a short talk with artists Juul Hondius and RAAAF.
In Olympia, director Leni Riefenstahl records the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. The film is as influential as it is controversial. Riefenstahl was way ahead of her time technically and artistically; inventing various new film and editing techniques. But the glorification of fascist ideas makes the film very controversial.
Riefenstahl had previously made films about the NSDAP by order of Nazi propaganda minister Goebbels. In Olympia, Hitler is also frequently pictured, as well as Nazi flags triumphantly flying in the wind. The way in which the strong human body is glorified in the film strongly resonates with Nazi ideology.
The power of images
How can we deal with this loaded cultural heritage more than 80 years after the fact? In a short introduction to the screening of Olympia.2. - Fest der Schönheit, art historian and curator Marian Cousijn will talk to artist Juul Hondius and Erik and Ronald Rietveld of RAAAF, who frequently deal with these kinds of questions in their artistic practice. Images have power – how can one, as an artist but also as an art institute, deal with this responsibility?
This is part of
Details
Director
Leni Riefenstahl
Production year
1938
Country
DEUZE
Original title
Olympia. 2. Teil: Fest der Schönheit
Length
96 min.
Language
German
Subtitles
ENG
Format
DCP
Part of
Amsterdam Art Week 2021
Eye is screening Small Axe as part of Amsterdam Art Week. Small Axe is a collection of five films by the British artist and director Steve McQueen (1969). The films are set in the period from the late 1960s to the 1980s and tell the personal stories of members of the West Indian community in London, who faced rampant racism and discrimination in their daily lives.
Planning on having a drink or a bite to eat? Book online for Eye Bar Restaurant.
Support Eye. Join the Eye Society.