Copenhagen, 11 December 2024 – The Danish filmmaker Mathias Broe is set to make his debut with the queer drama SAUNA, which has been selected for World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival 2025 (23 January – 2 February 2025).
SAUNA follows Johan, a young gay man, through his experiences with love and sex. He has just started working as a receptionist at Adonis, Copenhagen's only gay sauna, where he works and spends much of his time. For Johan, the city is like a boundless paradise of opportunities with bars, parties, and one-night stands, but it is only when he meets transgender William that he experiences love up close. The love between the two is put to a tough test as their relationship develops within a society governed by rigid ideas about gender, love, and identity.
SAUNA marks the feature film debut for director Mathias Broe. Set within Copenhagen's queer community, the film was also developed in close collaboration with individuals actively engaged in the community. The film invites the audience into an environment that challenges our notions of body, gender, and sexuality in a world where individual understanding of identity is fluid. Although this is a love story with all the eroticism and passion that love entails, the film is also about belonging.
“It was crucial for me to create a film that not only tells the love story between Johan and William but also captures the many facets and challenges faced by the queer community. Through my personal connection to the community, I’ve aimed to bring an authentic and nuanced portrayal to the screen, showing both the care and solidarity as well as the exclusionary dynamics presented. At its core, the film is about humanity’s universal search for love and belonging,” says director Mathias Broe.
A strong team both behind and in front of the camera
Mathias Broe, a graduate of the alternative Danish film school Super16, won the prestigious Robert Award for Best Short Documentary at Denmark's most esteemed film awards, presented annually by the Danish Film Academy, for his graduation film AMFI (2018). Broe has several short films to his credit, with SAUNA marking his feature film debut. The screenplay, written by screenwriter William Lipperts in collaboration with Broe, is based on Mads Ananda Lodahl’s novel of the same name.
Magnus Juhl Andersen and Nina Rask, both featured in the Danish hit-series CARMEN CURLERS (2022-), star as Johan and William. Andersen, a trained actor from the Danish School of Performing Arts in Aarhus, recently appeared in Amazon's BULLSHIT (2023). Rask, an actor and comedian, is also known for her role in the psychological thriller NIGHTWATCH: DEMONS ARE FOREVER, which premiered at the BFI London Film Festival in 2023.
The film is produced by Mads-August Hertz for Nordisk Film Production with support from New Danish Screen at the Danish Film Institute, DR, and Nordisk Film Distribution. International sales are handled by TrustNordisk.
SAUNA will premiere locally on 24 April, 2025
For more information, please contact publicist Denise Sinelov at Required Viewing, denise(at)requiredviewing.net.