ABBY
MINER
RACHEL
SUISSA
SIMON
RÉROLLE
Even death can't split them up.
A film by RACHEL SUISSA
Late bloomer Ella is haunted by the ghost of her overbearing greek mother Despina just as Nick, her childhood love, returns as a charming surgeon.
next premiere
GREEK EASTER MONDAY
april 21 NYC
Celebrate Greek Easter Monday with a special screening of a feel-good supernatural romcom drenched in Greek drama and olive oil for the whole family!
Greek Mothers Never Die
Synopsis
Ella‘s story begins in Greece, she is the only child of Jack, an American singer-song writer and Despina, a Greek, zany, overprotective Gyros owner. Nick, Ella’s only friend, is a 10 year old shy, nerdy looking boy. Ella and Nick grow and their friendship turns into love, but in 2010 the Greek economy collapses. Nick vanishes and Jack dies. Despina and Ella have to move overnight to America for their survival. Now, Ella is a 27 years old late-bloomer — with zero love life — dreaming of becoming a singer, but Despina pressures her to take over the Gyros.
During their daily fight, Despina drops dead of a heart attack, only to return as an intervening ghost, haunting Ella with unwanted advice andromantic guidance after Nick resurfaces as a handsome doctor (and something of a playboy).
In this supernatural heart warming romantic comedy — drenched in Greek drama — Ella will ultimately take control of her life, find the meaning of true love and learn how to deal with the passing of her mother.
Festivals
Honorific film prizes
Greek Mothers Never Die
Watch the trailer
Greek Mothers Never Die is a very personal movie as it’s a story based on my Greek mother and her gigantic, overbearing love that I experienced growing up in Paris, France (where my family ran a Greek restaurant). My mother emigrated to France, but Greek Mothers Never Die became a story of moving to America, as I had just moved to the States myself. It’s also a movie about my Greek heritage and my love for American popular culture… And I worked to bring those two interests together with a roller-coaster tragi-comedy that leaves you feeling good in the end.
The mother character, Despina, represents the many Greeks that left their country for a better life. Ella, the daughter, is half American and half Greek and she is caught between two worlds. Although Greek immigrants often display pride in their adopted country, they also work to reconstruct much of what they miss about Greece and its culture after they arrive. Their social world often features high melodrama and an intense fascination with food and family love. Everyday life events can quickly escalate (or descend) in the realm of soap opera.
Since I was a child, I loved the movies, and I particularly enjoyed supernatural stories with elements of romance and comedy. So, I wrote what would be my version of a supernatural romantic “dramady” – something warm and magical and poignant with shifting elements of tragedy and comedy (a story with something profound hidden behind the laughs and the romance).
But ultimately Greek Mothers Never Die is about all mothers and all daughters… and awkward romance and passionate people who often lose their way without a little help. We witness the Homeric journey of a girl learning how to live and thrive in the shadow of an overprotective mother who continues to haunts her daughter a, transformation and growth, a heartfelt quest to discover the best of ourselves as we move from the shelter of family and tradition into the unsteady, new world of independence. To me, all great movies are transformation machines that create wonderful emotions, and that’s what I aspired to create with Greek Mothers Never Die.
next premiere
GREEK EASTER MONDAY
21 april NYC
Celebrate Greek Easter Monday with a special screening of a feel-good supernatural romcom drenched in Greek drama and olive oil for the whole family!