Documentary Style
TopicalAll the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Oscar-nominated exploration of how an artist forced museums to reckon with accepting Sackler donations—powerful story of activism and institutional complicity in the opioid crisis.
Year
2022
Type
film
Runtime
117 min
Language
English
Director
Laura Poitras
Genres
Summary
Internationally renowned photographer Nan Goldin documented New York's underground with raw intimacy that revolutionized photography. Then OxyContin nearly killed her, and she turned her fury on museums accepting Sackler money.
From Citizenfour director Laura Poitras comes Goldin's campaign forcing the art world to confront its complicity. Through P.A.I.N., she staged protests inside the Met, Guggenheim, and Louvre, demanding museums remove the Sackler name—blood money from the opioid crisis. The film weaves this with Goldin's journey: her sister's suicide, the NYC scene where her work captured ignored lives, and AIDS devastating her community.
How cultural institutions launder reputations—and what it takes to force accountability.