Page "Leni Riefenstahl" Paragraph 6

Riefenstahl took dancing lessons and attended dance academies from an early age and began her career as a self-styled and well-known interpretive dancer, traveling around Europe and working with director Max Reinhardt in a show funded by Jewish producer Harry Sokal.

After injuring her knee while performing in Prague, she saw a nature film about mountains ( der Berg des Schicksals, 1924 ) and became fascinated with the possibilities of this sort of film.

She went to the Alps to meet the film's director, Arnold Fanck, hoping to secure the lead in his next project.

Instead, Riefenstahl met Luis Trenker who had starred in Fanck's films, who wrote to the director about her.