SMOKE SAUNA SISTERHOOD

Join us for our first celebration of GRRLS TO THE FRONT, our month-long collaboration with The Stone Church and The Vermont Women's Fund! Sundance festival winner and Estonia's Official Entry for Best International Feature at the 96th Academy Awards, SMOKE SAUNA SISTERHOOD is a stunning, intimate, and beautifully shot lightning bolt of a film followed by a pop-up networking dinner party featuring Indonesian Cuisine by chef Diana Tanudjaja of JAMU "Jah-Moo"! The film experience is included with the dinner, Click here to view the Menu and buy tickets 

SMOKE SAUNA SISTERHOOD (Dir. by Anna Hints, 89 mins, 2023)

Doors open 5pm, Director's Introduction and Film begin at 5:30pm, The Networking Dinner will be held after the film at 7:15pm.

Tucked in a lush green forest in southern Estonia, a group of women gather in the safe darkness of a smoke sauna to share their innermost thoughts and secrets. Enveloped by a warm, dense heat, they bare their souls to each other, expelling fears and shame trapped in their bodies, regaining their strength through a sense of communion. A deeply moving and intimate documentary, SMOKE SAUNA SISTERHOOD approaches issues of trauma, healing, and community by delving into the cultural tradition of Vana-Võromaa's smoke saunas in South Estonia (which are included in UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list).The film draws inspiration from their historical role in childbirth, and how they are unique spaces for healing, contemplation and connection. Filmed almost as if a Vermeer or Rembrandt painting, the camera is never intrusive or mechanical. Rather, the images move as the smoke – lingering, wafting, suspended briefly before disappearing and reappearing. With an authentic voice and authority born of their own heritage, filmmaker Anna Hints has created a transformative experience of being human within a female body, showing women “as they are” with great emotional veracity and deep empathy. 

Free entry to the dinner and film for participants of the GRRLS TO THE FRONT workshops at The Stone Church! Please register in advance as spaces are limited. The Mission of GRRLS TO THE FRONT is to create access an opportunity for women and non-binary people in the music industry. To celebrate their accomplishments. To amplify their voices & To connect them with resources and each other. This series was made possible by support from The Vermont Women's Fund.

CRITICAL ACCLAIM:

"Director Anna Hints captures this intimate ritual in a stunningly visceral and absorbing way. Her camera engages with the tight space by cradling bodies and faces revealed in chiaroscuro. An exchange of voices share what their bodies have experienced and withstood. The testimonies are deeply personal while also feeling universally recognizable. Hints further immerses us into the space with a soundscape saturated with breath and steam. The heat, sweat, and corporeality are palpable. At times, the women’s anatomies become landscapes, the sweat like rain. Moments outside in the cool light of the forest offer a release dispersed throughout the experience. It’s a beautiful privilege to be allowed into this healing space, and Hints honors the tradition and the empowered vulnerability of women with her striking and engrossing portrait." -Sundance Festival