09/05/2025 - The Swedish producer spoke to us about frequent challenges, co-producing, sustainability and her upcoming projects

Selected as the EFP’s Producer on the Move for Sweden this year, Eliza Jones marks a decade of Grand Slam Film with a forward-looking slate of bold new projects. In this interview, she discusses her company’s creative philosophy, the nuances of co-producing in Europe, and the importance of long-term collaborations. She also reflects on sustainability and her hopes for connecting with new international partners in Cannes.

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Cineuropa: Your selection for Producers on the Move 2025 is a significant milestone — what do you think set your work apart this year?
Eliza Jones: The nomination is a milestone that coincides perfectly with the ten-year anniversary of Grand Slam Film – the company I founded together with my producer partner Markus Waltå in 2015. I think it’s a recognition of the projects we’ve made so far as well as an encouragement for future films. Internationally, Ninja Thyberg’s Pleasure [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ninja Thyberg
film profile] is for sure the most renowned, but Måns Nyman’s Locals is a unique piece in the Swedish film landscape (performed entirely in verse), and Andreas Öhman’s One Day All This Will Be Yours [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andreas Öhman
film profile] was loved by critics and audiences alike and surpassed its box office estimate in Sweden. We try to keep a diverse slate of projects!

How do you balance creative ambition with the financial and logistical realities of European co-productions?
Well, each film and each creative vision has to dictate the strategies. To be a producer is to be mindful of the balance between creative integrity and the landscape of the industry. To be able to scale up, we need to co-produce, but real co-production can only work if it is in some way chosen – either organically from the story, or else because the creative capacities that join inspire something that benefits the project. In some projects, especially with debuts, it may be smarter to keep the financing and logistics as simple as possible for the director to spread her or his wings.

What are you currently working on, and how do you see your upcoming projects reflecting your evolution as a producer?
From the start, we’ve worked with creatives and ideas that we really believe in and want to work together with, and have thus been lucky to move together from shorts to features in several cases – we’re finishing our third debut feature soon (The Patron), this time together with Julia Thelin, with whom we’ve made four successful shorts, and we have two more debuts in development, by Sophie Vukovic (My Best Friend’s Baby) and Sebastian Micci (The Earwig). Another film now in post-production is our second feature collaboration with writer/director Andreas Öhman (7 Steps). We like long-term collaborations, because they open up a sort of environment of frankness and love that can challenge and support projects more and more effectively. Or that is our belief!

Grand Slam Film is still run by me and Markus, and we don’t have any plans to grow in size, but absolutely in scope and scale. We want to become better at what we do so that we can make bigger and better films for the audiences.

In an increasingly crowded content landscape, what strategies do you use to ensure your films reach international audiences?
I will never be a content producer, I’m a film producer. Imagine a winemaker or a microbrewer saying they produce “liquid”. Or ordering a glass of “content” at a bar. Sure, it comes in a glass, but I’ll choose what I want to drink by what taste I am going for. I think we can only succeed in reaching our audiences – international as well as domestic – if we are true to the integrity of our projects and continue to make films and not just moving images. There’s a world of difference.

How important is sustainability — environmental, economic, or cultural — in the way you produce today?
We have a duty to be mindful about how we use our resources, both when it comes to an ecological and a social footprint, weighing the benefits within a co-production, for example, and reducing waste as much as possible. Waste of time, waste of money, waste of energy, waste of natural resources. In a way, I think independent films have an easier time getting into a sustainable mindset. We simply cannot afford waste. I think the industry is looking at a change in attitude when it comes to lots of old bad practices – as we should. I’m a firm believer in taking as many steps as possible toward something more positive – in this case sustainability – even before we quite know how to be perfect.

Which European markets or partners are you most eager to connect with during Producers on the Move, and why?
I can’t wait to meet old and new colleagues in Cannes this year and am eager to get to know all the selected Producers on the Move better, along with how they view film production and the opportunities for co-production within and outside of Europe. Looking at the projects presented, there are a few that immediately speak to me and some that make me curious about perspectives different from mine.

Looking ahead, what do you see as the biggest challenge and greatest opportunity for independent producers in Europe?
It’s a turbulent time in many ways, and I think the greatest challenge is that we don’t know what lies ahead of us, economically or politically. How do we manoeuvre through small spaces without shrinking ourselves? Luckily, as independent producers, we are used to working with uncertainties, and if we form strong collaborations and keep up the work, I think the demand for heartfelt films will persevere through all times.