Still from Sauna. Courtesy of Sundance Institute.

Mathias Broe’s feature debut Sauna tells the story of a man thriving in Copenhagen’s queer community who falls for a transgender man, upending his conception of himself. The film is part of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition.
Linda Man (Psychosia, 3 Things) served as editor for Sauna. Below, Man talks about restructuring the first act in order to capture the audience and keeping character psychology at the forefront.
See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here.
Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired for this job?
Man: I wanted to work with the director Mathias Broe. I also chose to edit it because of the theme. I find it important, and it’s related to my own life as a queer person, so I was intrigued and certain that it felt like a project I wanted to realize.
Filmmaker: In terms of advancing your film from its earliest assembly to your final cut, what were goals as an editor? What elements of the film did you want to enhance, or preserve, or tease out or totally reshape?
Man: My goal was to constantly keep working with the psychology of the characters. Restructuring, acting, dialogue and sound/music were all formed from a focus on the psychology and development of the characters.

Filmmaker: How did you achieve these goals? What types of editing techniques, or processes, or feedback screenings allowed this work to occur?
Man: I had a lot of talks with the director about the character developments throughout the film. I found it important to keep asking the questions: where are they, what do they want/hope/feel, and why? We had a lot of screenings during the editing period to test it out, for ourselves and for a diverse range of selected people in the field.
Filmmaker: As an editor, how did you come up in the business, and what influences have affected your work?
Man: I always loved telling stories. Editing is a way to tell stories with several tools for catching the feelings you are interested in. In storytelling I have a big interest in analyzing the characters’ motivations and psychology in general.
Filmmaker: What editing system did you use, and why?
Man: Avid. I always use Avid as I think it works best for bigger and more heavy workflows.
Filmmaker: What was the most difficult scene to cut and why? And how did you do it?

Man: The first act of the film was the most difficult, and it was completely restructured, as the main character had to be started up in the middle of living his life and to be more mature than he was in the script. This made him more interesting to follow and made William’s interest in him believable. Also, he had to have a life from the beginning that offered him enough to have something to lose in the midpoint of the film.
Filmmaker: Finally, now that the process is over, what new meanings has the film taken on for you? What did you discover in the footage that you might not have seen initially, and how does your final understanding of the film differ from the understanding that you began with?
Man: How important it was to keep focusing on honesty and realism. And to keep asking questions about the existential part of the story. I think this was a focus from the beginning, but it definitely got clearer during the process.