Games People Play (Information in English)

An old group of befriended thirty-somethings gathers to celebrate Mitzi’s (Emmi Parviainen) surprise birthday party over a nostalgic weekend at an idyllic seaside villa - just like they used to do as teenagers.

The party starts to turn awkward when Mitzi makes it clear that she does not appreciate the surprise, and the atmosphere doesn’t exactly get less tense when Mitzi’s best friend Veronika (Laura Birn) joins the party with her new boyfriend Mikael (Christian Hillborg), a good looking Swedish Hollywood export.

Eventually Mitzi starts a parlor game which reanimates old hierarchies and power structures within their entwined relationships.

Familiar surroundings and old rituals get to the core of the group and make them forget their adulthood. Revelations, not meant to harm the balance, make them reassess their past as well as their present.

Before the film, Klarabiografen will show an exclusive interview between Jenni Toivoniemi and New European Film-producer Johannes Mayer.

About the director:
Jenni Toivoniemi (born 1978) is a Finnish writer and director. She is a founding member of one of Finland’s most interesting film production companies, Tuffi Films.

Toivoniemi debuted as a director with the short film comedy The Date (2012), which won several awards including International Short Fiction Jury Award at Sundance Film Festival.

She participated in the film-collaborations project Force of habit (Tottumiskysymys, 2019) and has been active writing for theatre, an audio play, as well as scripts for other film directors.

Her feature film debut Games people play (Seurapeli) was nominated for eight Jussi-awards, Finland’s most important film award.

Original title: Seurapeli
Directed and written by: Jenni Toivoniemi
Starring: Emmi Parviainen, Laura Birn, Samuli Niittymäki, Eero Milonoff, Christian Hillborg, Iida-Maria Heinonen, Paula Vesala och Paavo Kinnunen
Length: 120 minutes
Language: Finnish  withSwedish subtitles
Country and production year: Finland, 2020