ARTFEED — Contemporary Art Intelligence

Nan Goldin Documentary Wins Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival

award · 2026-04-27

Laura Poitras' documentary 'All the Beauty and the Bloodshed' won the Golden Lion at the 79th Venice International Film Festival. The film chronicles photographer Nan Goldin's life and her activism against the Sackler family, owners of Purdue Pharma, which manufactured Oxycodone. Goldin founded the group P.A.I.N. to pressure museums to reject Sackler donations. The documentary interweaves Goldin's personal history, her iconic photography (including 'The Ballad of Sexual Dependency'), and her political fight. Poitras, an Oscar-winning director known for 'Citizenfour', collaborated intimately with Goldin starting in 2019. The film features rare footage and photographs, highlighting Goldin's underground New York scene in the 1970s and 1980s. Jury president Julianne Moore praised the film as a well-told story of a marginalized woman. The film will be distributed in Italy by I Wonder Pictures.

Key facts

  • Laura Poitras' documentary 'All the Beauty and the Bloodshed' won the Golden Lion at the 79th Venice International Film Festival.
  • The film focuses on photographer Nan Goldin and her activism against the Sackler family, owners of Purdue Pharma.
  • Purdue Pharma produced Oxycodone, which caused thousands of overdose deaths.
  • Goldin founded the activist group P.A.I.N. to pressure museums to reject Sackler donations.
  • The documentary interweaves Goldin's personal history, her photography, and her political activism.
  • Poitras began working with Goldin in 2019.
  • The film includes Goldin's works 'The Ballad of Sexual Dependency', 'The Other Side', 'Sisters, Saints and Sibyls', and 'Memory Lost'.
  • Jury president Julianne Moore called the film 'extremely touching and human'.

Entities

Artists

  • Nan Goldin
  • Laura Poitras
  • Julianne Moore
  • Patrick Radden Keefe
  • Edward Snowden
  • Julian Assange
  • Joseph Conrad
  • Barbara Goldin
  • Andrea Romeo
  • Margherita Bordino

Institutions

  • Venice International Film Festival
  • Purdue Pharma
  • P.A.I.N.
  • Act Up
  • National Endowment for the Arts
  • I Wonder Pictures
  • Harvard University
  • Artribune
  • P.A.I.N. (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now)
  • Sackler family
  • NSA

Locations

  • Venice
  • Italy
  • New York
  • United States
  • Iraq

Sources