Olympia (1938 film)

Olympia
VHS cover art
Directed by	Leni Riefenstahl
Produced by	Leni Riefenstahl
Written by	Leni Riefenstahl
Music by	Herbert Windt Walter Gronostay
Cinematography	Paul Holzki
Edited by	Leni Riefenstahl
Production company	Olympia-Film
Distributed by	Tobis Müller Taurus (video)
Release date	20 April 1938 (1938-04-20) (Germany)
Running time	126 minutes (part I) 100 minutes (part II) 226 minutes (combined)
Country	Germany
Language	German

Olympia is a 1938 German documentary film written, directed and produced by Leni Riefenstahl, documenting the 1936 Summer Olympics, held in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany. The film was released in two parts: Olympia 1. Teil — Fest der Völker (Festival of Nations) and Olympia 2. Teil — Fest der Schönheit (Festival of Beauty). It was the first documentary feature film of the Olympic Games ever made. Many advanced motion picture techniques, which later became industry standards but which were groundbreaking at the time, were employed —including unusual camera angles, smash cuts, extreme close-ups, placing tracking shot rails within the bleachers, and the like. The techniques employed are almost universally admired, but the film is controversial due to its political context. Nevertheless, the film appears on many lists of the greatest films of all time, including Time magazine's "All-Time 100 Movies."

Olympia set the precedent for future films documenting and glorifying the Olympic Games, particularly the Summer Games. The 1936 Summer Olympics torch relay was devised by the German sports official Dr. Carl Diem for these Olympic Games in Berlin. Riefenstahl later staged the torch relay for this film, with competitive events of the Games.

Olympia was made in three versions: German, French and English. There are slight differences between each version, extending to which portions were included and their sequence within the entire film. The French version is known by the alternate title Les Dieux du Stade (Gods of the Stadium).