About Sauna Day

Yielding, languid bodies. Dripping sweat. Moist silence and the odd discussions suspended in midair. Masculine brotherhood is redefined in the intimacy of a sauna, far from the predictable showy, exuberant virility. On the contrary, vulnerability shines through, along with desire – desire for physical proximity, earnest contact, tenderness and unabashed sensuality.  

Tushar Prakash & Anna Hints’s interview 

 The film arrives like a sort of "Smoke Sauna Brotherhood": was it conceived in this way, in relation and maybe in reaction to the feature film?

Anna: I was born into the smoke sauna culture, and the space of the smoke sauna continues to inspire me as a sort of dark, cosmic canvas to explore human connection and condition. In “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood” the focus is on the intimate talks that are shared within the sisterhood, in “Sauna Day” the focus is in the unsaid intimacy that is not shared through words. As I am in a creative journey as an author and can only create art that deeply resonates within me, then of course all my films will have dialogue and intertextuality between them. I view space as a tool for artistic exploration; two films can share the same setting yet differ in style, approach, and themes. Both “Sauna Day” and “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood” are born from my experience with the smoke sauna culture and deep connection with the indigenous Võro and Seto cultures from South-East Estonia, where my roots are. I am sure more films will come from that setting also in future.    

How did you work together?

Tushar: Filmmaking can be a lonely and arduous journey. Anna and I are fortunate because our tastes align. We were able to work closely with the local community and access the smoke sauna culture thanks to Anna’s connection to the indigenous Võro and Seto culture. Collaborating is a humbling experience for me; I can observe another artist’s courage and creative process. Our film is stronger because of our collaboration. There were many details that Anna was able to see that I was not able to see, and I think that I was able to bring an outsider's perspective to the local community. 

Anna: “I firmly believe that in life and art 1+1=3”. 

The smoke sauna seems to be a privileged place to capture something of human intimacy. But unlike the feature film, the characters exchange only a few words, and these are even rather mundane exchanges. Nothing is conveyed through words, but through gestures... Why did you choose this approach? Was everything written or did you improvise with the actors?

With this film, we are looking into the fragility of perceived masculinity. The problem is in the patriarchal mindset that goes through generations and has taught men to suppress their emotions, so they struggle to express their pain, suffering, isolation, troubles and feelings through language. In our minds, the characters in this film have never openly discussed their emotions; instead, they rely on unspoken actions to communicate their feelings. Bringing this subtle ambiguity into the film was a challenge, but it was also our goal. The emotions in the film are conveyed through actions and gestures, not words. The words may be mundane, simple, and practical, but the gestures are complex and ambiguous. We incorporated this silence into the script and crafted scenes where the emotions of the characters' inner world are conveyed through their outward gestures or through their surroundings. During filming, we encouraged the actors to naturally interpret the gestures, improvising the scenes as they remembered or "felt" them. We put together actors and non-actors from the local community. They had both indeed built the roof on set and then went to the smoke sauna together. In art we try to find the miracles through improvised situations and be open to the unplanned and unpredictable.

How did you balance the sequence with the "whipping" with the branches, which is the climax of the film, to make it long enough to be hypnotic, but not too long as to lose the viewer?

Timing in film is the key, you have to sense the time that is best for your film. Together with the actors, we attended numerous smoke sauna sessions to experience the atmosphere, observe the details, and embrace the allure of the space. The actors also built up their heat tolerance in the smoke sauna, as the temperature and humidity can increase significantly during the whisking process. On the day of filming, they were given autonomy and could call 'cut' when they felt their bodies could no longer endure it. They were determined to push themselves to their physical limits. We filmed the scene from various angles in long continuous takes, allowing the actors to continue whisking for as long as they desired. The experience became akin to a performance art, as the two actors bonded and pushed each other to the edge, striving to continue despite the desire to stop. During editing, we carefully balanced all elements to maintain the hypnotic and ambiguous atmosphere we had aimed to achieve.