Smoke Sauna Sisterhood

The healing powers of sisterhood take on a new meaning in this luxuriant portrait by Anna Hints. Following a group of Estonian women who gather in a handmade sweat lodge, the film languidly moves through the seasons as bodies gather in the rituals of the sauna. Baring their souls and their flesh, tears are released into the heavy, warm air, and quickly dispelled with laughter as the women nurture one another. The specificity of each individual’s experience weaves a rich tapestry and yet there is a undertow of universal understanding flowing throughout this finely crafted film. Hints immerses us in a space innately known to all humans, suspending viewers in an ephemeral experience of love and acceptance. This debut feature won the Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema–Documentary directing award.