This documentary follows photographer Nan Goldin through her artistic development in the 1970s and 1980s and documents her present-day activism.

Photography can be about much more than a visually appealing image.

As renowned photographer Nan Goldin demonstrated, photography can transport us to an unfamiliar world, provide humanity to underrepresented communities, and defy stifling cultural politics.

Laura Poitras is a documentary filmmaker whose 2014 film Citizenfour won the Academy Award for Best Documentary.

In All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, Poitras puts her lens on Goldin, following her evolution as an artist throughout the 1970s and 1980s and her present-day activism protesting the Sackler family's involvement in the opioid crisis.

The documentary uses archival footage, photographs of Goldin's work, and voiceover from Goldin to tell her story of artistic discovery and rebellion.