I've got a BFA from NYU film school too, if you feel the need to compare credentials. In the US, at least, that's how her name is pronounced. She's widely discussed, as you know. I've heard non-Americans--as there were many in film school--pronounce
Leni Reifenstahl this way as well (last name = reef-en-shtahl, nearly rayf-en-shtahl or rife-en-shtahl), but I am certainly open to the notion that when speaking
German it would sound different. I have a
German surname that sounds quite different in the middle of a sentence in English than it does in
German. As I said, this one probably varies by country. However,
Leni Reifenstahl is pronounced LAY-nee by professors, documentarians, admirers and detractors; she's quite a woman (she was; she passed away only recently). Congratulations on your honors.