Leni Riefenstahl
It is hard for someone as gifted and passionate as Leni Riefenstahl to live through a whole century (1902–2003) to be a mere history’s witness. Indeed, she is one of the most influential directors of all time considering what she did for filmmaking. The more we look at her legacy, the more mesmerizing it seems, of how a woman can triumph a man’s game through all hardships, discriminations, and critics. As one of many Germans who had put faith in Hitler and his regime, Riefenstahl had made her life forever the dilemma between arts and morality.
With an artistic career spanning from performing (dancing, acting) to filmmaking (writing, directing, filming, editing) to photographing, Riefenstahl never compromised with mediocrity. She was always the brightest and the most dedicated. Perhaps, Riefenstahl’s dedication had also consequently drawn her to the unescapable phantom — a Fascism’s filmmaker. However, ‘Triumph of the Will’ and ‘Olympia’ — some of her best works under Nazi party — can be seen as masterpieces. Not only the techniques she used in these documentaries were ahead of her time, but their storytelling were also strongly unique. Using no narration, she challenged herself in the editing room looking through hundreds miles of films and finding ways to make the images speak for themselves. Long after the war, she travelled alone to Africa to live eight months with Nuba tribes and photograph their distinctive lives. Later on, at the age of ninety, she dived deep to the ocean to observe and record the underwater world. Riefenstahl had been through it all, her versatility is unnegotiable. As a pioneer, what Leni Riefenstahl did to filmmaking similar to what Marie Curie did to chemistry, innovative and revolutionary.
In the documentary ‘The Wonderful, Horribe Life of Leni Riefenstahl’, Riefenstahl said “Arts and politics are two different things, and one thing has nothing to do with the other,” but to the last days of life, she was still called ‘Hitler’s filmmaker’ however regretful she felt about her past works. What we can learn from Riefenstahl’s life is that how interconnected filmmaking is, to social context. Regardless of how beautiful her films are as works of art, the accusation for Riefenstahl will never go away. Her films were and still are indications of her ethics. She was once cheered for making such unparalleled propaganda films, to aftermath found herself perpetually boycotted. At the very heart, the story of Leni Riefenstahl is the happiest yet the saddest ever of an extraordinary female filmmaker.
Lina Wertmüller
On October 27th 2019, Lina Wertmüller was finally awarded her first Oscar, an Academy Honorary Award, at the age of ninety-one. This Italian woman has spent all her life making movies and plays, while fearlessly raised some of the most sensitive subject matters through them: facism, sexism, racism. By tirelessly dedication, roughly 40 films were directed by her since 1963. Not only being the first woman nominated for the Best Director at the Oscar, Wertmüller was also the first female to be nominated for a Palme d’Or in Cannes Film Festival. A self-claimed socialist, a self-made artist, she never compromises to be any less of herself under any circumstances.
Wertmüller came to arts initially working as a puppeteer, stage manager, set designer at avant-garde theaters around Europe. From that, she had developed a creative persona both comedic and playful, yet still “serious” and “politically conscious”. Hence, to be frank and to be fun, are quite Wertmüller’s style. Throughout her most famous titles such as ‘The Seduction of Mimi’, ‘Swept Away’, ‘Seven Beauties’, ones that brought Wertmüller international acclaims, the political elements were always treated in a satire way to inquire questions of humanity and dignity throughout some of the worst eras in human history. In a film review of the newly released documentary about Wertmüller ‘Behind the White Classes’, critic Owen Gleiberman described her films “were over-the-top, in-your-face, exhaustingly “emotional,” and defiantly incorrect before the term “politically correct” had even been invented. They were flamboyantly comic and bellicose finger-wagging Italian provocations.” Many may find Wertmüller’s films hard to watch and controversial because of their cacophony and obnoxious sexual performances, but we all have to admit that her directorial treatments have effectively made visible the distortional reality often glorified by common cinema. Her voice in film is brave and strong, as her purpose with arts is always to “explore human beings, their weaknesses, their ideals.”
Lina Wertmüller’s works have surpassed the test of time. The next generation of filmmakers will keep on honoring her as the ultimate female director that refuse stereotypes to go beyond and tell stories that reflect war, culture, social class and human desires. Constantly surprise people with her view points and ideas, she is that keen yet eccentric artist that we all long respect and admire.
Ash Mayfair
Born 1985 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, trained in theatre directing in Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London and received an MFA in filmmaking at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Ash Mayfair is one of very few Vietnamese directors that have crossed the border of this little country to make their works acknowledgeable internationally. With her first feature film ‘The Third Wife’ premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival 2018, then won the NETPAC Jury Award there, to being screened at almost every continent in the world, she has proved herself as one of the biggest hopes in Vietnam’s next generation directors. Yet, a film that has brought so many honors and awards to a young female filmmaker, was withdrawn from cinemas after just four days of screening in its mother country. Regardless of the movie’s center theme — womanhood, conservative groups accused ‘The Third Wife’ crew for letting a 12-year-old girl act in intimate scenes. Cyber-bullying was also targetted at the main actress and her family at the time of this controversy.
The debut feature was originally Mayfair’s project back in the day she was at film school. Thinking about a screenplay that deeply personal and close to heart, she was urged to create a story that stemmed from her own family background. It was her great-grandmother whose life in oppression of the patriarchy, the polygamous marriages of the feudal society, therefore child marrriage set in 19th century in Vietnam happened to be at core of the movie. “I decided right from the beginning that honesty and candor is the only approach,” Mayfair explains. To find Nguyễn Phương Trà My, the one starring the third wife, Mayfair and her team went all over Vietnam to cast over 900 girls from the ages of 11 to 14. In fact, aside from her wonderful performance, it was Nguyễn’s determination and confidence in taking the heavy role that convinced Mayfair to choose her for the role. Throughout production and release of the film, there was also a close-knit collaboration between Nguyễn, her mother and family with the film crew.
Vietnam has always been known for giving harsh censorship and very limited freedom to artists, especially filmmakers, to touch on sensitive matters. Even so, with Mayfair, in order to preserve and translate her family history to a relatable work of art, as well as claim her agency as an artist, she refused to give in, “We had to try, even though we knew we could be attacked by a lot of conservative viewpoints.”
This piece was written as an assignment for The Language of Film class I took at Centennial College, Toronto (2019).
