In Sauna, the care-free Johan falls for a transgender man, forcing him to confront his societal position with regard to gender and love. The film is the feature debut of Mathias Broe and screens as part of the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.
Nicolai Lok served as the film’s cinematographer. Below, he explains his choice of camera and lenses and how Sauna‘s story provided room to explore visual ideas.
Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired for this job?
Lok: I met Mathias back in 2013, when we worked on our first short film together. Since then, we have collaborated on various projects, exploring similar themes of sexuality, as we did in Sauna, and experimenting with different visual concepts. This film was a great opportunity to continue that journey in a longer format.
Filmmaker: What were your artistic goals on this film, and how did you realize them? How did you want your cinematography to enhance the film’s storytelling and treatment of its characters?
Lok: We wanted to draw the audience into Johan’s world and create an intimate connection between them and Johan as he searches for intimacy and a sense of belonging. We aimed for an emotionally driven realism and explored his desires, keeping the camera physically close to him to let viewers experience the story from his perspective. Most of the film was shot on 45mm and 55mm lenses on the LF sensor, as we found these focal lengths gave the right sense of closeness and a natural perspective. The 1.55:1 aspect ratio helped create an intimate feeling and worked well for framing Johan alone, isolating him from his surroundings.
Filmmaker: Were there any specific influences on your cinematography, whether they be other films, or visual art, of photography, or something else?
Lok: We drew inspiration from directors such as Eliza Hittman, Andrea Arnold, Simone Bozzelli and Francis Savel and from visual artist Louis Fratino.
Filmmaker: What were the biggest challenges posed by production to those goals?
Lok: Time and budget—but they also provided a set of constraints that proved to be very inspiring!
Filmmaker: What camera did you shoot on? Why did you choose the camera that you did? What lenses did you use?
Lok: We shot the film on the Alexa Mini LF and Canon K35s. This setup provided a lightweight setup ideal for shooting in tight spaces with minimal lighting. The LF sensor delivered an appealing, organic image when slightly underexposed, and the K35s had a soft character that brought a bit of poetic quality to the realism.
Filmmaker: Describe your approach to lighting.
Lok: We shot everything on location, working closely with the local queer community and Copenhagen’s club scene. The locations play a major role in the film’s identity, and we wanted to stay true to each place and embrace what was already there. We relied on practicals and available light, adding LED lights when needed.
Filmmaker: What was the most difficult scene to realize and why? And how did you do it?
Lok: One scene stands out from the rest as it takes place in the mind of our main character, Johan, as a kind of dream. It’s connected to a story Johan shares earlier in the film about a defining moment from his past, which merges with the situation he’s facing now. The director and I had very different ideas about how to approach this scene when we read the script. It was an interesting challenge to find the right direction for this part, and I’m really happy with where we ended.
Filmmaker: Finally, describe the finishing of the film. How much of your look was “baked in” versus realized in the DI?
Lok: I developed a LUT prior to shooting the film, and the look achieved in the DI was a natural extension of that. We also added grain and halation using the Filmbox plugin.
TECH BOX
Film Title: Sauna
Camera: Arri Alexa Mini LF
Lenses: Canon K35
Lighting: Practicals and LED film lights // Michael Sørensen (gaffer)
Processing: ProRes 4:4:4:4, 3.8K
Color Grading: DaVinci Resolve // Sandra Klass and Peter Diemar