Leni Riefenstahl (1902-2003) was a German filmmaker whose Triumph of the Will (1934) exemplified cinema as weapons system. The entire 1934 Nuremberg congress was staged for the film. Everything was decided by reference to camera requirements.
Riefenstahl’s work demonstrated how Nazi power operated through cinematic spectacle and how cinema became integral to totalitarian control. Her technical innovations served fascist purposes.
Related: war-and-cinema, Paul-Virilio