Ninety-eight-year-old Leni Riefenstahl has claimed she is not proud of her most famous film, Triumph of the Will, which has been attacked as Nazi propaganda by some and praised as great cinema art by others.

In an interview appearing in today's (Monday) London Daily Telegraph, Riefenstahl remarked that she feels "unhappy" with the film, because it "has disturbed my life."

Riefenstahl also denied that she had any intention of promoting the Nazis with her film. "I was not a Communist, I was not a Nazi, I was an artist," she said.

Indeed, she further insists, she had originally told Hitler that she did not want to make the film. "And I say, 'No, no, no, no.' And he says, 'Please Leni, one film, one film of the rally in Nuremberg.' And I say, 'No.' Then he says, 'Please give me six days of your life.' And journalists and people say that I have made the film because I am ambitious. That I want to help. But it was au contraire."

Source: Studio Briefing