Mathilde Dedye

With a massive passion for films, Mathilde forged her career in the film industry after finishing her studies at SSE. She started as a coordinator at the Stockholm International Film Festival, and she is now a professional film producer and runs her own production company, French Quarter Film. Her most recent production, AND THEN WE DANCED, has garnered international reputation during last year’s awards season and won the best film at the 2020 Guldbagge Awards (the annual and official Swedish film awards). 

From Business School to the Film Industry

Mathilde has always loved films but knew very little about what one could do in the industry until she had a year off from SSE and helped some friends with film productions. It was then that she realised where her passion lies and what she wanted to do after graduation – that is, to become a film producer. 

Back to SSE Mathilde enrolled in the AFM program (affärsutveckling och medieteknik, a specialty at the time) where the students could orient themselves to the industries that interested them. During that time, Mathilde not only got the opportunity to look into the film industry and made a few contacts, but she also studied everything from accounting to finance to strategy and marketing – all of the necessary building blocks for understanding what makes businesses tick and function.

“The actual work of a producer starts from the film idea to market launching through development and production.”

Apart from going to film festivals all around the world, Mathilde oversees the overall operations of film production, just like running a business. As a producer, she is responsible for budgets, crew hires, marketing strategy, sales, and managing the day-to-day business side of a production. She may not have moved into a traditional role overtly linked to her degree, but the transferable skills she developed during her time studying here have proved invaluable to her.

If you are considering a path less trodden

Be proactive! It can seem like that working for banks or joining graduate schemes at multi-national companies are the most obvious, and hugely lucrative options to pursue as a business school student. However, if you are alsoconsidering the path less trodden when thinking about future career options, Mathilde leaves you with this advice:

“Look up a few people you find interesting and take meetings with them. That’s a key to understanding what you want to work with and actually the best way to get a job later on since they might remember you when they need somebody or, next time, you’ll be able to contact them and ask for a job.”

Mathilde also encourages students to join some extra curriculum activities. One of the activities that had inspired her a lot was the Media Committee of the student association where she met a lot of passionate, ambitious and daring people.