Heaven Knows What

2015 • 92 minutes

About this movie

Harley loves Ilya. He gives her life purpose and sets her passion ablaze. So, when he asks her to prove her love by slitting her wrists, she obliges with only mild hesitation, perhaps because of her other all-consuming love: heroin. Directed by celebrated filmmakers Josh and Benny Safdie (Lenny Cooke, Daddy Longlegs), Heaven Knows What blends fiction, formalism and raw verite as it follows a young heroin addict (Arielle Holmes) who finds mad love in the streets of New York. The film - which world-premiered at Venice (where it won the CICAE award) and subsequently played NYFF, Toronto and SXSW among other prestigious festivals - is based on Holmes' soon-to-be-published memoir Mad Love in New York City. Co-starring Caleb Landry-Jones (X-Men: First Class, Byzantium), Heaven Knows What also features street legend Buddy Duress and gore rap phenom Necro. 2014 Iconoclast.