Steam of Life

'Sweaty Naked Finnish Men Crying".

That tagline should catch your attention but Steam of Life will take your breath away.

From the rusted interior of an old camper, the hiss and crackle of a wood-fired stove serves as background noise while two men sit naked in the steam, sharing their innermost thoughts and feelings over a bottle of akvavit. Steam of Life reveals that men are most likely to expose their innermost emotions, not when they’re drunk at a bar, but when they’re naked in a sauna. In the almost dreamlike environment of a steam-filled sauna, Finnish men make uncensored and unguarded revelations about love, death, heartbreak and life as if the steam and conversation will cleanse their souls.

In all its simplicity the camera records the raw and rare beauty of landscapes, saunas and men in almost magical pictures. Their revealing confessions argue that when we are at our most natural and vulnerable, we are also at our most human. Punctuated by surprising and light-hearted interludes and cinematic shots of nature reflecting the men’s newfound serenity and balance, Steam of Life is an exceptionally intimate, poetic and reflective film about the healing catharsis of conversation.

"So how many Santas can fit comfortably into a sauna?"