Serving as the feature length directorial debut from Estonian filmmaker Anna Hints, the intimate and powerful documentary Smoke Sauna Sisterhood – a collaborative production between Estonia, France and Iceland that won the Directing Award at the World Cinema Documentary Competition during the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.
In the Voro community of Estonia, smoke sauna is an important part of everyday life. The tradition is not meant to just be a physically purging through the cycle of whisking bodies in a steamed room before washing off in the cold water, but also a spiritual healing in which shame is washed away and strength regained through a sense of community, a tradition so intertwined with Estonian culture and history, that is internationally recognised by UNESCO as cultural heritage.
This 89-minute documentary is a raw and intimate look into the power of sisterhood during a smoke sauna session. Anna Hints takes the audience into what feels like a forbidden place, a place where the sanctity of dignity and vulnerability should be contained within the walls of the sauna.
However, the vulnerability shown by the women on screen, who not just bare their bodies before the camera, but also the most sacred parts of their souls, makes for such engaging viewing and opens a candid perspective of womanhood in various facets.
Anna Hints films the subjects of this documentary in such a naturalistic way. The shots of steam filling the room have a grandiose cinematic feeling, and the sunlight that bellows through the windows of the sauna gradually allows the women to be revealed in the light, just as they are revealing their spiritually selves from the dark shadows, and as the steam clears, revealing the community of women there to support them.
The stories of these women are fascinating. At times, the confusion of why men are obsessed with sending dick pics will have you laughing in agreeance. At other times, the heartbreaks of familial issues, cancer, and in a truly heartbreaking recollection, a sexual assault, will have you glued to the screen with unbreakable compassion. It’s the varying stories and perspectives that make this film so interesting to watch, but it’s the non-judgmental love and care from the women around that is undoubtedly the films heart.
The film opens on a shot of a woman breastfeeding her infant child, a signifier of new life. As the documentary goes on, and the various stories of these women are told, the idea of new life being created through the sauna process is reinvigorating as their personal shames and worries begin to wash away physically and emotionally, and the foundations of the community built by these women holding each other up is stronger than ever.
Smoke Sauna Sisterhood is a powerful documentary, and one that is truly unique. Anna Hints not only captures the cultural significance of smoke sauna for the Voro community of Estonia, but uses it as a backdrop to the importance of womanhood and telling these women’s stories.
Smoke Sauna Sisterhood is playing at this years Brisbane International Film Festival, with the festival running from October 26 to November 5. You can buy tickets at www.biff.com.au .
