I Remember You / Muistan sinut
short film, 10 min
A group of young friends arrives at a secluded beach for a weekend of camping. As night falls, strange events unsettle them. When a local man vanishes, they become suspects, questioned by authorities who believe they know more than they admit. But is the true darkness lurking in the shadows… or within?
The story was created together with a group of young people, Rosa Kumar Saarinen, Lili Smith, Kastanja Rissanen, Ada Nykvist, Ali Tabassam, and Linda Larkovirta, all of whom also act in the film. Also the crew consists partly of young people.
Screenings now: Nordisk Panorama Young Nordic
Premiere: Imbolg – Women Who Terrify Film Festival, Dublin, Ireland, January 30, 2026.
2026 Bloody Mirror Film Festival, Georgia
2026 No Filter Film Festival, Belarus/Helsinki
2026 Red Rose Cinema, Helsinki
2026 Nordisk Panorama, Young Nordic programme
Actors Rosa Kumar Saarinen, Lili Smith, Kastanja Rissanen, Ada Nykvist, Ali Tabassam, Linda Larkovirta
Story by Rosa Kumar Saarinen, Lili Smith, Kastanja Rissanen, Ada Nykvist, Ali Tabassam, Linda Larkovirta, Marjo Viitala
Director, Screenwriter Marjo Viitala
Cinematography Joni Juutilainen
Editing Saara Välimäki and Mira Puhakainen
Sound Salla Hämäläinen ja Ville Katajala
Costume Linda Larkovirta and Marjo Viitala
Production Design Marjo Viitala
Makeup Linda Larkovirta
Graphic Design Simo Pitkänen
Trailer Juha Lankinen
With support of Art Promotion Centre Finland and City of Helsinki
Critics in Leffahammas (in Finnish)
Article in Kon O’Star (in Finnish)
Article in Vuosaari-lehti (in Finnish)
Director’s statement
I Remember You began with a screenwriting workshop I led for teenagers. Their desire to act and make a horror film became the starting point for the project. Together, we developed the story, and the film grew into an ensemble piece shaped by their ideas, energy, and presence. Without their contribution, this film would not exist.
In the film, the young characters commit a horrific act, driven not by clear or calculated motives, but by imagination, collective prejudice, and shared belief. Although the story contains supernatural elements, it echoes something deeply rooted in reality. I am interested in how a group can construct its own version of truth, in which an individual becomes guilty simply because the group perceives them as such. Within this shared reality, the victim can come to seem deserving of what happens to them, while the group’s collective perception overrides the facts.
To build a bridge between this harsh reality and the film’s supernatural atmosphere, I used a poetic voice-over drawing on Pyhä yksinkertaisuus (Holy Simplicity) by Finnish writer Timo Hännikäinen, who is associated with Finland’s far-right intellectual scene. With the exception of the opening and closing sentences, the voice-over uses passages from the book, translated and adapted for clarity. Recontextualised within the film, the text introduces a real-world ideological dimension into the fictional narrative, exploring how conviction and collective belief can become ways of justifying wrongdoing.
For me, the true horror does not lie solely in what is shown on screen, but in how easily individual responsibility dissolves into the group. I wanted to explore the unsettling space where imagination becomes conviction, prejudice becomes truth, and ordinary people become capable of acts they might never have considered alone.
Trailer
