And this nakedness is nothing sexual, she adds.
She not only produced the film but took part in some of the sauna sessions with the other women.
Ostrat continues, It was a very personal experience, this sisterhood.
‘Smoke Sauna Sisterhood’Greenwich Entertainment
First, physical sweat starts the physical dirt starts to come up and then emotional dirt, Hints explains.
And you have to be there to capture it and you cannot repeat it.
It will not be the same when you repeat it.
‘Smoke Sauna Sisterhood’Greenwich Entertainment
We had to be, with the cinematographer and sound recordist, ready to capture the miracles.
There was huge trust between me and them.
It has no chimney, and the smoke from burning wood circulates in the room.
It gets very, very hot inside that wooden space.
We had a rule that whoever needs to go out, goes out to breathe.
That was equally true for the photographic equipment, which is not designed to function in such an environment.
We had to be sensitive to the camera and to technology.
It wasnt easy for the camera and sound team to function in that extreme heat either.
A session in the sauna is typically followed by a plunge into water.
In wintertime, that involved breaking through ice to reach flowing water underneath.
Smoke Sauna Sisterhoodpremiered at Sundance last January, where Hints won Best Director in the World Cinema Documentary category.
Hints says she finds it stunning how the film connects with people everywhere.
Every day I get some messages from people all over the world and theyre very personal, Hints says.
Theres one Japanese woman who has watched the film at least six times.
And she says that shes going there because in her family they are not happy to be vulnerable.
So she goes now to a smoke sauna and she processes her own things.
And now she decided to end that war, to stop that war and start to embrace herself.
The response to the film, Hints says, has taught her something.
To not belittle your voice, she says.
It has been a big realization to really trust that voice.
