“I cried and laughed at the same time when I got the call”, Alma Pöysti describes the moment when she heard she had landed the role of Tove Jansson in the first feature drama film ever made about the world-famous Moomin creator. “Just like almost every Finn I grew up with her. We were surrounded by Tove’s art and works ever since I was a child. I think I even learnt to talk through her words, because we were always reading her books in my family.”

Alma Pöysti has played in several different films in the Nordics and is especially known for her theatre career: she has acted at the Finnish National Theatre and at the Stockholm City Theatre, as well as at the Gothenburg City Theatre. Alma Pöysti has also previously played Tove Jansson’s part in a theatre play produced by Svenska Teatern in Helsinki. This is her first lead role in a feature drama film.

“Tove Jansson was such an inspiring, bold and fascinating persona. I am delighted to get to be part of this ambitious production and to help tell a part of the exceptional story of Tove Jansson, her inner world and her struggles both in art as well as in love”, Alma Pöysti comments.

Interestingly, Alma Pöysti also has a personal connection to Tove Jansson, as her grandmother Birgitta Ulfsson was a close friend of Jansson’s, and Pöysti met her already when she was a child. This played an important role also when she heard about getting the role:

“I jumped on my bike and bought flowers and went to the cemetery; to Tove’s grave and my grandmother’s grave which are quite close to each other. They were friends, and I felt a connection to Tove through my grandmother.”

The director of the film is Zaida Bergroth, a highly acclaimed Finnish director for which this will be the fifth feature-length drama. She says that Alma Pöysti has all the right characteristics for the role of Tove Jansson. “When I searched for an actress to portray Tove Jansson, I was looking for someone who would have that right Tove-like energy, and who could credibly play a person who created something as amazing and imaginative as the Moomins. Alma Pöysti’s version of Tove combines intelligence and melancholy as well as humour and flirt in a wonderful way. I am very excited to be able to present such an incredible actress to a large audience”, Bergroth says.

Vivica Bandler is played by Krista Kosonen and Shanti Roney plays Atos Wirtanen.