THE JOURNEY OF GREEK MOTHERS NEVER DIE | PART SIX
Two Films. Two Worlds. One Creative Partnership.
The extraordinary privilege of a studio film
My first feature, Dangerous Liaisons, gave me an extraordinary gift: the chance to write and direct a studio film with the backing of Netflix, produced by my wonderful partner Eléonore Dailly (Autopilot). It was an incredible first experience.
Rachel Suissa and producing partner Eléonore Dailly at the Central Florida Film Festival.
There is something exhilarating about having a powerful machine behind you, with the resources to dream big, express yourself boldly, and see your work reach audiences across the world.
The film was released internationally as a Netflix Original. Once my edit was finished, I could move into the promotional phase knowing that a vast, experienced team was already handling the machinery of release. Distribution, visibility, access to audiences in country after country: so much of what independent filmmakers struggle to build was already there. We never took that for granted.
We loved that experience. And yet another part of our hearts had always belonged to independent cinema.
The maverick spirit
Growing up, I was fascinated by films that seemed to make their own rules. They could be intimate, audacious, imperfect, irreverent, or wonderfully strange. They had that maverick spirit that made me fall in love with filmmaking in the first place. I had always wanted to make a film that way, too.
The Larraín brothers at a film-industry event. Photograph supplied for this blog.
When Greek Mothers Never Die came along, it felt like the right story for that journey. It was so deeply personal, inspired by my life, my mother, and the complicated, hilarious, indestructible bonds that shape a family. Eléonore and I could not imagine a better way to tell it than through independent filmmaking.
But making an independent film and bringing it to an international audience are two entirely different adventures. Without major stars attached or a studio machine behind us, every step required another introduction, another screening, another person willing to believe in the film.
And still, the film traveled. Festivals, community screenings, journalists, friends, word of mouth: people carried it. Gravitas Ventures acquired its North American rights, and by late 2025, Greek Mothers Never Die had found its way to Prime Video and other streaming and digital platforms across the United States and Canada.
And then we discovered Pijama
Pijama: a new home for independent film discovery.
What immediately caught our attention was not just a new distribution outlet, but an idea. Pijama was launched in January 2026 by Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín, his brother and producer Juan de Dios Larraín, and Cristian Jofré. It was a platform conceived by people who understand the artist’s side of cinema, offering filmmakers a more direct way to connect their work with viewers.
Cristian Jofré
The concept felt wonderfully simple: no subscription required, just the freedom to discover a film, choose it, and rent it. There was something refreshing about that simplicity, not less ambition, but a different way of opening a door.
What excited us even more was the mix. Small independent films made on shoestring budgets, sometimes without a single recognizable star, could share the same space as prestigious, award-winning productions by internationally acclaimed filmmakers. All kinds of films, all kinds of stories, sharing the same space.
It’s a gamble, of course. But it’s one we’re excited to take.
Despite having launched only in January 2026, Pijama has already announced promising relationships with respected names in international cinema, including MK2, Les Films du Losange, Alpha Violet and Visit Films. Its app is also reaching viewers on connected-TV devices, including Apple TV, a different proposition from placing every title individually in the Apple TV Store.
There is an unmistakable entrepreneurial energy behind the project, but also an artistic one. We love the idea of a catalogue where a small film can sit beside an acclaimed one and still be chosen for its own story. These early relationships are exciting, and we have a feeling this is only the beginning.
In our industry, we say a movie “has legs” when it can keep finding an audience and build momentum long after its first release. Well, we have a feeling Pijama is a platform that has legs.
That is our intuition, not a guarantee. A young platform has to earn its audience, and a small film still has to find its way to the people who might love it. But that possibility, the sense of building something alongside people who believe in cinema, is exactly what makes this new chapter so appealing.
So, after the extraordinary privilege of seeing our first film together travel the world with Netflix, Eléonore and I are now placing our second film in the hands of a young, ambitious platform, and ultimately in the hands of the audience itself.
No big studio machine. No international stars. Just a story, a platform willing to give films a chance, and the hope that somewhere, someone will discover it, love it, and tell someone else.
From Netflix to Pijama. Two very different journeys. The same dream: to tell stories that travel beyond borders.
A glimpse of the Pijama catalogue and its mix of films.