Suzanne Raes has been working as an independent filmmaker for more than 20 years. Her early films a.o. THE HOUSES OF HRISTINA (2007), THE RAINBOW WARRIORS OF WAIHEKE ISLAND (2009), and THE SUCCESSOR OF KAKIEMON (2012) premiered at IDFA and won several awards at international film festivals. Her film COME CLOSER about Boudewijn de Groot received the IDFA Music Audience Award in 2015.

For her film about the Rotterdam social service, QUID PRO QUO (2015) Raes won a Golden Calf, the most important film award in the Netherlands. More recent the co-production GANZ; HOW I LOST MY BEETLE had a successful theatrical release and has been broadcasted in the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland.

In 2023 her latest film CLOSE TO VERMEER ran for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, with successful cinema releases in a.o. the Netherlands, USA and Germany. The film was nominated for a Golden Calf and won the Special Jury Prize at Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival.