Smoke Sauna Sisterhood presented by the Bozeman Doc Series

On Thursday, January 18th, at 7pm at The Emerson Center for the Arts & Culture, the Bozeman Doc Series continues with the Montana premiere of one of the most critically-acclaimed and award-winning new documentaries of the year, Smoke Sauna Sisterhood.

The smoke sauna tradition known as “savvusanna kombõ” is one of connecting family and friends to cleanse body and soul inside a place of peace and contemplation. 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 all to expel fears and shame trapped in their bodies and regain their strength.

Smoke Sauna Sisterhood world-premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival where it won the Directing Award in the World Cinema Documentary category. It also recently won the Best Documentary prize at the European Film Awards.

“Lyrical, life-affirming...The small, smoky, steamy miracle of this film is how it creates something so intangible, so lyrical, from the absolutely elemental: fire, wood, water and lots of naked female flesh.” Variety

“Hypnotic, intimate and blisteringly honest.” Harper’s Bazaar

“It’s an intense watch; at times infectiously hilarious, at others wrenchingly sad. For the film’s brief running time, there’s an emotional osmosis at play, in both sauna and cinema alike.” The Observer

“There is such raw emotional intimacy in this dazzling documentary...This is a film that weaves a spell, the camera resting often not on the woman talking but on the person listening to her, thereby creating the impression of a universal experience of women.” The Guardian

Doors open at 6:30pm. Tickets are available at the door or before the show online at www.bozemandocseries.org, where you can also buy Season Passes and 7-film punch cards, learn more about the series, and view trailers for upcoming films. The series will take a few weeks off over the holidays then continue every other week through April, 2024.