FILM #1
OF 39
95TH ACADEMY AWARDS | 2023 OSCARS CHALLENGE
“ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED”
JANUARY 31, 2023
FILM INDEPENDENT SCREENER
DAY 8
OF 48
Best DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Produced by Laura Poitras, Howard Gertler, John Lyons, Nan Goldin and Yoni Golijov
You couldn’t write a character better than Nan Goldin. She’s a larger-than-life personality that has lived extraordinarily. She’s an activist and an artist, a rebel and a revolutionary. Her photography has hung in some of the most famous museums in the world. And now, with the documentary “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” she’s entering those museums with her work behind the camera and in front of it.
Nan struggled a lot in her life. She lost her older sister to suicide at a young age, was bounced around foster homes even though her parents were around, and eventually became addicted to opioids. Her addiction began her activism as she tried to bring justice to those she saw as criminals, the Sackler family. The Sackler family is an affluent name in the world of pharmaceuticals, as they made billions of dollars from OxyContin. But when the opioid crisis takes thousands upon thousands of lives, they offer little to no help and face zero consequences. Nan aims to change that.
Told through interviews and her polaroid slideshows, Nan recalls her journey growing up in the heart of the AIDS epidemic in New York, surrounded by a melting pot of sexuality and intellects. Director Laura Poitras also allows us to be a part of Nan’s activism as she stages protests at different art institutions, trying to get them to deny Sackler donations and remove the Sackler name from the galleries themselves. I feel like it’s rare to see activism show real change, but as the documentary highlights, some consequences transpire from Nan’s years of revolt.
A guidebook to peaceful protests, “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” is also a heartfelt life retrospective that dares to pull back the curtain on a life that’s still living. As Nan says, she doesn’t keep secrets, and her entire life, all the good and the bad, are on full display here.
PREVIOUS NOMINATIONS
LAURA POITRAS
| 87th Academy Awards (2014) | Best Documentary Feature | “Citizenfour” | WINNER |
| 79th Academy Awards (2006) | Best Documentary Feature | “My Country, My Country” | Nominee |
HOWARD GERTLER
| 85th Academy Awards (2012) | Best Documentary Feature | “How to Survive a Plague” | Nominee |
JOHN LYONS
| First-time nominee |
NAN GOLDIN
| First-time nominee |
Yoni Golijov
| First-time nominee |
Follows the life of artist Nan Goldin and the downfall of the Sackler family, the pharmaceutical dynasty who was greatly responsible for the opioid epidemic’s unfathomable death toll.
Directed by Laura Poitras
Neon + Participant + HBO Documentary Films
December 2, 2022
122 minutes
ACCOLADES
BAFTA Awards — Best Documentary (Nominee)
Alliance of Women Film Journalists — Best Documentary Feature Film [Winner]
Cinema Eye Honors Awards — Outstanding Direction [Winner]
Cinema Eye Honors Awards — Outstanding Nonfiction Feature (Nominee)
Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards — Best Political Documentary (Nominee)
Directors Guild of America — Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary (Nominee)
Film Independent Spirit Awards — Best Documentary (Nominee)
Gotham Awards — Best Documentary (Nominee)
National Board of Review — Top Five Documentaries [Winner]
Satellite Awards — Best Motion Picture, Documentary (Nominee)
Venice Film Festival — Best Film (Golden Lion) [Winner]
EXPERT PREDICTIONS
1. “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”
2. “Fire of Love”
3. “Navalny”
4. “All That Breathes”
5. “A House Made of Splinters”
PERSONAL PREDICTIONS
1. “Navalny”
2. “Fire of Love”
3. “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”
4. “All That Breathes”
5. “A House Made of Splinters”
