Sarah Jilani

He would say, Leni, why do you not want to make the film?

I say, you remember what I have had for trouble.

I can't do it, you see, but this year it will be good.

You are an artist and I don't want that the party make a stupid film.

It is only possible that you make the film as an artist.

Riefenstahl was persuaded and in September 1934 she began work with a crew of around 170.

The set included a sunken camera pit and a motorised aerial platform.

Over four days, scenes of the military marches

speeches and parades, were shot from dramatic angles.

Long focus lenses recorded close-ups of the crowds, while cameras filmed from moving cars.

It was pioneering.

All was improvisation, yes.

I have had only one idea.

It was the first time it was done.

I think everything must be moving.

If you remember the beginning of the film...

She's talking about the opening scene, Hitler's plane flying through the clouds into Nuremberg.

Hitler is coming on the fight, he's going to the hotel.

Everything, the buildings, it was moving.

And to do this was new.