All the Beauty and the Bloodshed is a 2022 documentary film which explores the career of Nan Goldin and the fall of the Sackler family. The film was directed by Laura Poitras.[2][3] Poitras said, "Nan's art and vision has inspired my work for years, and has influenced generations of filmmakers."[4] The film premiered on September 3, 2022, at the 79th Venice International Film Festival,[1] where it was awarded the Golden Lion making it the second documentary (following Sacro GRA in 2013) to win the top prize at Venice. It also screened at the 2022 New York Film Festival,[3] where it was the festival's centerpiece film and for which Goldin designed two official posters.[5][6] The film's distributor, Neon, said that the theatrical release would coincide with a retrospective of Goldin's work at the Moderna Museet, set to open October 29, 2022.[4]
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Laura Poitras |
Produced by |
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Starring | Nan Goldin |
Cinematography | Nan Goldin (credited as Photography and Slideshows) |
Edited by | Amy Foote Joe Bini Brian A. Kates |
Music by | Soundwalk Collective Dawn Sutter Madell |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | Neon |
Release dates |
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Running time | 113 minutes[1] |
Country | United States |
The film examines the life and career of photographer and activist Nan Goldin and her efforts to hold Purdue Pharma, owned by the Sackler family, accountable for the opioid epidemic. Goldin, a well known photographer whose work often documented the LGBT subcultures and the HIV/AIDS crisis, founded the advocacy group P.A.I.N. (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now) in 2017 after her own addiction to Oxycontin, where she had a near fatal overdose. P.A.I.N. specifically targets museums and other arts institutions to hold the art community accountable for its collaboration with the Sackler family and its well publicized financial support of the arts. Since P.A.I.N.'s activities most of the targeted museum's have severed all ties with the Sackler family and in 2021 Purdue Pharma filed for bankruptcy.
The film is structured in seven chapters, each of which begin with a "slide show" photographic sequence or archival footage of a period of Goldin's life and then transitions to footage of her more recent protests with P.A.I.N. The slideshow of archival photographs is intentionally reminiscent of Goldin's own work creating slideshows or series of photographs, such as The Ballad of Sexual Dependency. Footage of P.A.I.N. demonstrations include their first 2018 protest at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Temple of Dendur wing, as well as similar demonstrations at the Louvre and the Guggenheim Museum. Goldin is the primary narrator of the film, with additional interviews from associates such as journalist Patrick Radden Keefe and P.A.I.N. member Megan Kapler.
Goldin and two other activists had been filming their activities with P.A.I.N. for two years, intending to make a documentary about the activist group. Goldin then approached the film's production company about turning the footage into a film, and Laura Poitras was suggested to Goldin to direct the film, based on Poitras's work on Astro Noise for the Whitney Museum. Goldin was initially skeptical because of Poitras' previous political films, saying "I thought I was not going to be interesting to her because I don’t have any state secrets."[7]
Goldin has stated that most of the film's footage and photographs come directly from her. Poitras expanded on Goldin's vision for the project, and chose to make a more well-rounded film about Goldin's life and career. These biographical elements include the suicide of Goldin's sister, Goldin's drug use and her sex work activities, which she had never previously publicized, as well as her art career and achievements. Goldin initially felt uncomfortable with allowing Poitras to control the film and the depiction of her life, but was happy with the finished film. Goldin said that Poitras was "telling my story in my voice, but it's not exactly my version as I would tell it. But she's been amazing into letting me have a lot of input into what's used and not used."[7]
The film premiered on September 3, 2022, at the 79th Venice International Film Festival,[1] where it was awarded the Golden Lion.[8] It screened at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival on September 9. Shortly afterwards Poitras criticized both the Venice and Toronto festivals for screening a film produced by Hillary Clinton, In Her Hands. Poitras stated that she was "alarmed" by Clinton's presence at the festivals, adding "Hillary Clinton was actively involved in the wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan. She supported the escalation of troops."[9] It also screened at the 2022 New York Film Festival,[3] where it was the festival's centerpiece film.[10]
In August 2022, before its Venice premiere, Neon acquired the US distribution rights for the movie while the UK and Ireland rights were taken by Altitude Film Distribution.[4][11] In September 2022, HBO Documentary Films acquired television and streaming rights to the film.[12] The film will be released in theaters by Neon on November 23, 2022.[13]
According to the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed has a 95% approval rating based on 38 reviews from critics, with an average rating of 8.9/10.[14] On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, the film holds a score of 89 out of 100 based on 11 reviews indicating “universal acclaim”.[15]
Godrefy Cheshire praised the film for being equally Poitras' and Goldin's work, stating that "there's effectively no conceptual distance between the auteur documentarian and her artist subject...the result of their sympathetic engagement is a collaboration of rare beauty and power."[10]
Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
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Venice Film Festival | September 10, 2022 | Golden Lion | Laura Poitras | Won | [16] |
Queer Lion | Nominated | [17] | |||
Smithers Foundation Award "Ambassador of Hope" | Won | [18] | |||
Athens International Film Festival | October 8, 2022 | Golden Athena Best Documentary Award | All the Beauty and the Bloodshed | Won | [19] |
London Film Festival | October 16, 2022 | Grierson Award | Nominated | [20] | |
Montclair Film Festival | October 30, 2022 | Bruce Sinosky Award for Documentary Feature | Won | [21] | |
Critics' Choice Documentary Awards | November 13, 2022 | Best Political Documentary | Nominated | [22] | |
Best Director | Laura Poitras | Nominated | |||
Gotham Independent Film Awards | November 28, 2022 | Best Documentary | All the Beauty and the Bloodshed | Pending | [23] |
British Independent Film Awards | December 4, 2022 | Best International Independent Film | Laura Poitras, Howard Gertler, John Lyons, Nan Goldin, Yoni Golijov | Pending | [24] |
Cinema Eye Honors | January 13, 2023 | Outstanding Non-Fiction Feature | Pending | [25] | |
Outstanding Direction | Laura Poitras | Pending | |||
Outstanding Editing | Amy Foote, Joe Bini and Brian A. Kates | Pending | |||
Outstanding Original Score | Soundwalk Collective | Pending | |||
The Unforgettables | Nan Goldin | Won | |||
Filmed works of Laura Poitras | |
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