The German film director and photographer Leni Riefenstahl, who has died aged 101, will be remembered for two innovative, visually eloquent and lavishly funded documentaries, Triumph of the Will (1935) and the two-part Olympia (1938).
The former, a monumental, hypnotic account of the massive 1934 Nazi party rally in Nuremberg which glorified Nazi pageantry and deified Adolf Hitler, earned her a place in film history and the status of a post-war pariah.
She was the first female film director to attract international acclaim, but her career was curtailed by public, industry and official antipathy owing to her status as "Hitler's favourite film-maker".
Both Triumph of The Will and Olympia are permeated by Riefenstahl's intense feeling for the expressive power of bodies in motion, whether they be marching Nazis or high divers.
Born in Berlin, Riefenstahl achieved fame as a "free" dancer in the style of Isadora Duncan, touring Europe by the age of 22 and gaining employment with Max Reinhardt.