Come along to a very special fundraiser & screening of Smoke Sauna Sisterhood, Best European Documentary 2023 and Sundance Festival winner, at the heritage-listed cinematic gem, Chauvel Cinema.

Welcome to Country, Auntie Jacqui Jarrett
MC Kate Smith, yoga teacher, actor and cabaret artist
Learn more about The Yoga Foundation's work and impact from our special guests
Finger food feast from Parliament on King social enterprise: beautiful food made with love by refugees & asylum seekers
Drinks, popcorn and ice cream
The incredible film Smoke Sauna Sisterhood - "a film that weaves a spell", The Guardian
Bid on the great items in our silent auction
Get lucky in the Raffle!

DETAILS: Thursday 24 October, 6-9.30 pm, Chauvel cinema, 249 Oxford St, Paddington NSW 2021.

100% funds raised support the work of The Yoga Foundation. The Yoga Foundation is a leading not-for-profit playing a critical role in the recovery of highly traumatised people. We work with teens, survivors of family, domestic and sexual violence, men and women recovering from trauma, mental ill health, homelessness and disadvantage.

THE FILM: Smoke Sauna Sisterhood is a deeply moving, intimate and breathtaking approach to issues of trauma, healing, and community. It is the first documentary by an Estonian director to compete and win at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.

In SMOKE SAUNA SISTERHOOD, the history of the smoke saunas as a place of giving birth inspired them to focus on women who “come together in the protective darkness of the smoke sauna, share their deepest secrets and wash off the shame that has accumulated in their bodies”. Filmed almost as if a Vermeer or Rembrandt painting, the camera is never intrusive, never 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.

"Even in the modern world, women often find themselves attacked by the same violence and traumas of their foremothers, just in new ways. But if this cycle must continue, so, too, must the healing process. This is why sacred places matter. This is why community matters. The strength of knowing others understand your pain can help fortify you deep in your soul. This is the heart of Hints’ bittersweet yet empowering film."

THE VENUE: The Chauvel has been operating in Paddington for over 40 years and has long been the spiritual home of Australian film culture, a gathering place for avid cinema lovers to share their passion for the best in independent, world and cult cinema.