G E B R U E D E R B E E T Z F I L M P R O D U K T I O N

ICE COLD PASSION AND ARNOLD FANCK BETWEEN HITLER AND HOLLYWOOD

A DOCUMENTARY BY GEBRUEDER BEETZ FILMPRODUCTION 1X52MIN, 1X43MIN, HD, GERMANY 2017 IN CO-PRODUCTION WITH ZDF IN CO-OPERATION WITH ARTE SUPPORTED BY NORDMEDIA

ARNOLD FANCK AND LENI RIEFENSTAHL. BOTH RISK THEIR LIVES FOR A MOVIE AND TORTURE EACH OTHER RELENTLESSLY FOR THEIR VISIONS. AN AMOUR FOU ESCALATING IN THE ETERNAL ICE OF GREEN- LAND AND TURNING COLD FOREVER.

FIRST BROADCAST ZDF/ARTE: 2018 PRESS RELEASE G E B R U E D E R B E E T Z F I L M P R O D U K T I O N

CONTENT

DOCUMENTARY ICE COLD PASSION

SYNOPSIS 03

DIRECTOR ANNETTE BAUMEISTER 04

PRODUCTION LIST 05

PRESS RELEASE G E B R U E D E R B E E T Z F I L M P R O D U K T I O N 03

ICE COLD PASSION SYNOPSIS

She is the most radical and controversial artist of tionship between Fanck and Riefenstahl. While Fan- the 20th century - Leni Riefenstahl. He is the in- cks career crashes after „SOS Eisberg“, Riefenstahl’s ventor of the , camera designer and career sets off with the Nazis taking over in 1933 film avant-gardist of the 20s - Arnold Fanck. In May – the cooly calculated rise at the expense of her 1932, both board a ship and depart on a five-month mentor Fanck? The documentary shows excerpts film-making voyage to Greenland. Their mission is from the greatest films of Fanck’s and Riefenstahl’s, the first ever German-American feature film produc- such as „The White Hell of Pitz Palu“ (1929) or „Storm tion: „SOS Eisberg“. It‘s the hitherto riskiest and most over “ (1930). Reinhold Messner, Willy expensive film project in history. Bogner and Fanck‘s grandson, Matthias Fanck, talk about the pioneering innovations of Fanck‘s moun- In the double biography „Ice Cold Passion - Leni tain films. Experts (Karin Wieland and Lutz Kinkel) Riefenstahl and Arnold Fanck between Hitler and describe the work and life of the „Aesthete of the Hollywood“, Annette Baumeister puts together the Absolutely Beautiful“ (Süddeutsche Zeitung) and unknown picture of two closely interlinked careers. put it in a new light. The deconstruction of the myth The spectacular and life-threatening filming process surrounding Riefenstahl is at the same time an over- of „SOS Iceberg“ forms the frame of the film, which due tribute to the nowadays almost forgotten film then deepens to the bottom of the passionate rela- pioneer Arnold Fanck. PRESS RELEASE G E B R U E D E R B E E T Z F I L M P R O D U K T I O N 04

AUTHOR & DIRECTOR ANNETTE BAUMEISTER

Annette Baumeister, studied contemporary histo- and international productions. She is specialized in ry, economic history, social history and German li- sensitive portraits, cultural and historical themes. terature at the universities of Augsburg, Grenoble In 2013/2014 she was admitted to the Masterclass and Munich. As a student, she worked in archives Non-Fiction of the Internationale Filmschool Colo- in , America and Germany. After working as a gne (ifs). freelance researcher on the ZDF retrospective Hun- Annette Baumeister lives and works in Los Angeles dert Jahre, she completed a television traineeship at and Berlin. She loves people and their stories, she the German-American production company Story likes to take a fresh perspective on seemingly well- House Productions. Since 2003, she has worked as a known stories and adores soccer and the moun- freelance writer and director on numerous domestic tains.

FILMOGRAPHY (SAMPLE)

2017 Gefangen im Kreml (AT). ZDF / ARTE (in 2014 Elsa Brändström. Der Engel von Sibiren. Produktion) MDR

2016 Erich Kästner - Das Andere Ich. ARTE 2014 Die Kinder des 20. Juli 1944. ZDF

2015 Sinatra – The Voice of America. 90 Minu- 2014 Too Young To Die. Natalie Wood – Die ten, ARTE Macht der Prophezeiung. ARTE

2015 Emmy Göring. Die First Lady der Nazis. 2013 Der Vietnamkrieg und die Deutschen. MDR ZDF

2015 Too Young To Die. Bruce Lee. ARTE 2013 Roland Freisler. Hitlers Henker. MDR

2015 Der King und das Mädchen. Elvis & Pris- 2013 Deutsche Dynastien. Das Haus Fa- cilla. ARTE / ZDF ber-Castell. ARD PRESS RELEASE G E B R U E D E R B E E T Z F I L M P R O D U K T I O N 05

PRODUCTION LIST

CREW EDITORIAL & PRODUCTION TEAM

AUTHOR & DIRECTOR Annette Baumeister EXECUTIVE PRODUCER Reinhardt Beetz, GBF DOP Johannes Straub ASSOCIATE PRODUCER Fabian Motz CAMERA ASSISTANT Rainer Hirsch PRODUCER Paul WIederhold EDITOR Marion Pohlschmidt PRODUCTION MANAGER Lilly Hartmann POSTPRODUCTION Malte Hadeler PRODUCTION ASSISTENT Rebecca Zaubel GRADING Bernie Greiner DRAMATURGY CONSULTANT Matthias Fanck MUSIC Nils Kacirek COMMISSIONING EDITORS Martin Pieper, ZDF/ arte SOUNDDESIGN Pierre Brand Michael Renz, ZDF History Sascha Prangen FUNDING Nordmedia Fonds GmbH in Niedersachsen und Bremen