Ep. 150: Laura Poitras on All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

Ep. 150: Laura Poitras on All the Beauty and the Bloodshed Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m Nicolas Rapold. One of the year’s best films is All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, directed by Laura Poitras. It’s about the life and work of photographer Nan Goldin, and her successful activism against the Sackler Family, whose company PurduePharma produced Oxycontin. Poitras and Goldin were collaborators on the film, which is a deeply moving work of art itself, featuring Goldin’s candid photography and her tough and evocative voiceover. Goldin speaks openly of traumas in her past, including the tragic story of her sister, Barbara. I’m a huge admirer of Poitras’s films, and as she generously pointed out, I first interviewed her in 2010 about her film The Oath, which was followed by her features Risk and Citizenfour, winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary. It was an honor to talk with her again about All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, winner of the Golden Lion in Venice and more recently Best Documentary from the New York Film Critics Circle. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Music: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The Minarets Photo by Steve Snodgrass