Smoke Sauna Sisterhood
Sounds boring--one and a half hours of footage inside a half-lit Estonian smoke sauna listening to women talking while they partake in this ancient tradition of communing and cleansing. Yet this film is anything but boring!
Smoke Sauna Sisterhood is a multi-award winning documentary by Anna Hints that pretty much sums up the experience of womanhood in the most poetic of ways. As viewers, we bear witness as the women share intimacies, speaking about their bodies and their self image, their relationships, and their experiences of growing up in a male oriented, patriarchal society.
Traditionally the Estonian smoke sauna is a sacred, spiritual place that dates back to pre-biblical times--where women give birth, wash the dead, smoke meat and heal. It continues to this day and UNESCO has in fact
included the Võrumaa smoke sauna on the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity List.
Smoke Sauna Sisterhood is available on Apple TV and on Amazon. Upon receiving an award from the Sundance Film Festival, Anna Hint said "In Estonia we don't speak too much but we do sing. Here is a song for you."
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