The film received the Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival 2023, and it was sold by Autlook Filmsales to over 30 territories, including North America, where it will be released by Greenwich Entertainment (in the USA) and Sherry Media Group (in Canada). The film is a coproduction between Estonia, France and Iceland.

Smoke Sauna Sisterhood looks at womanhood through the rituals of the smoke sauna, an ancient tradition from Southeast Estonia that belongs to the UNESCO Representative Life of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Estonia’s Alexandra Film produced the film in coproduction with French Kepler 22 Productions and Ursus Parvus (Iceland), and with support from the Estonian Film Institute, the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, the Tartu Film Fund, Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée, Sacem, the Icelandic Film Centre and the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund.

The shortlist in the Best International Feature Film category will be announced on 21 December 2023, the nominees will be known on 23 January 2024 and the 96th Academy Awards will be held on 10 March 2024.