Smoke Sauna Sisterhood - Baltic Feature Film Winner 2023
Arguably the most celebrated, steamy, and soothing Estonian cinematic gem of 2023. Proud candidate of two Oscar nominations, awarded at Sundance, and an EFA nominee.
It took the Anna Hints seven long years to deliver such an intimate, unique, and healing film to the big screen. She knows the smoke sauna (part of the UNESCO cultural heritage list) from childhood and developed a magical vision to depict the small, murky cabin world with hearty sincerity. Imagine sitting relaxed on a wooden bench in a warm almost dark sauna in the company of frank women in the forest of Võromaa. If you ever sweated in any sauna, you would recall that in an intimate collective space at a certain moment, someone shares their joys and sorrows, to soothe the soul and bare pain.
A spiritual, stunning, and uplifting immersive experience deserves to be seen again.
Edvinas Pukšta
Anna Hints (1982) is a filmmaker whose background is in contemporary art and experimental music. She is deeply rooted in the culture of her home country. Her short documentary "For Tomorrow
Paradise Arrives" (2021) sparked a public discussion about dumpster diving and food waste in Estonia. "Smoke Sauna Sisterhood", her first documentary feature, had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2023. Hints received the award for best director in the World Cinema Documentary Competition there. She is the vocalist of the electronic folk trio EETER, which was nominated in the category of best film score at the 2018 Estonian Film and Television Awards. EETER collaborated with Icelandic composer Edvard Egilsson on the original score of "Smoke Sauna Sisterhood". Hints is currently pursuing a master's degree in drama at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre.
Filmography:
Savvusanna sõsarad (2023, doc)
Award for Best Baltic Film, grant of 5000€ from Piletilevi
