REALLY Public Domain?


Is it REALLY in the Public Domain?

You see, I'm a filmmaker. Later this year I'm making a film set just before the Second World War and I'd like to use footage from 'Triumph of the Will' in my film. Everywhere I've searched has said that it's now in the public domain, does that mean I can now use it?

Clips from 'TotW' will only be featured for a short time in my film, and I WILL be selling my film, does this make a difference to my freedom of usage?

Thanks.

reply

I assume so, as you always see clips in documentaries.


But I was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now.

reply

According to Wikipedia, a few years ago Riefenstahl sued a Swedish company for using snippets from the film. Riefenstahl died since then, but if the film was under copyright then, it is still under copyright until 70 years or so (I'm not sure about German copyright laws) pass after her death.

reply

[deleted]

good to know!

reply

OK, I'm going to shoot a possible answer.

Movies in the EU are copyright up to 70 odd years after the death of the director or producer.
TOTW credits Riefenstahl with both of these roles but also credits the fact that it was made under commission of Adolf Hitler. The latter being the case would probably make the German Federal government owner of the film and Riefenstahl's only case against the Swedish film was her moral rights.
That being the case, the German Federal Archive may be administiring the rights and may have released them into the public domain. They have also released a lot of other commissioned photographs of the '34 rally into the P.D. even when the author may still be alive.
I would advise contacting them at http://www.bundesarchiv.de/ and finding out.

Filmmaker-to-filmmaker, I recently had a similar problem in a film I made and my soloution was to create an animation using public domain images. Because of the nature of the film and events that couldn't be depicted in real life and because footage might have been used against those depicted I took the decision to rotoscope the still images then animate hand/foot/mouth/eye movements to make it look like a propaganda film. I was inspired by Horror film "The Outpost" which used a similar technique to produce Nazi propaganda newsreels - the sort of thing you're looking for.




reply

Oh Joy! A second "public domain" thread.

Perhaps the OP just wants to reach out for some sense of community.

reply