This is a dream encounter. Poitras is a fearless journalist, activist and filmmaker renowned for her work championing freedom of speech and information. Nan Goldin’s career is defined by groundbreaking photographic work that questions gender identities and societal norms. She also created PAIN (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now), an action group campaigning to bring accountability to pharmaceutical companies over the opioid crisis.

Two distinct and complementary threads feed into Poitras’ film: an intimate account of Goldin’s life as a photographer in the underground worlds of Boston and New York, and the story of her descent into addiction, which also encompasses her recent direct action against the Sackler family in museums supported by them. Interspersed with Goldin’s photography, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed is a thought-provoking portrait and an inspiring call to arms.

Text by Laure Bonville, BFI London Film Festival.

“A sublime and gritty knockout. A work of devastating power.” - The Hollywood Reporter

Content warning: strong sexual images. See the BBFC website for more information.