Ariadne Koutsaftis - Bio
​
-
Nyxtes Premieras - Athens International Film Festival - "Don't Call Me Stranger" 2017
-
Nyxtes Premieras - Athens International Film Festival - "Melancholia" 2018
-
GrecDoc Film Festival in Paris - "Don't Call me Stranger" 2019
-
Hellenic Academy Award Nomination for Best Short Documentary - "Melancholia" 2019
-
Clive Dailey Award for Most Outstanding Performance - IDSA Showcase 2019
I was born in Paris on the 1st of October 1994, from a french mother and a greek father. I grew up in Greece until the age of 18 when I moved back to Paris for my studies.
​
Both my parents are directors, therefore I grew up partially on set, either at one of my father's films or on stage while my mother performed. With my brother we were always creating small plays and short films and it wasn't a big surprise that we both decided to follow our parents footsteps.
​
During my school years, I developed my love for theater and acting, as well as a big interest in directing movies. At the age of 16 I was playing in the Musical Opera-Rock "Notre Dame de Paris" and was performing in theaters in Greece such as Megaro Mousikis - The National Music Theater, and Lyriki Skini - National Theater of Athens. When I turned 17 I created my own cinema group called the "Camera Bandits". With a team of 5 people, I directed my first short "Schizophrenia".
​
I studied at the university of Nanterre Paris Ouest, and graduated in 2016 with a Degree and a first year of Masters in Performing Arts - Cinema and Theater, and a specialisation in Anthropological Documentaries. While studying at the university, I also followed drama lessons at the Conservatoire 4° in Paris.
​
When finishing my Master's Thesis, I started filming my first feature documentary called "Don't Call Me Stranger", about the refugee crisis, that was later produced by A&G Films.
​
In 2016 I was accepted at the European Film College, where I graduated with a diploma in Advanced Acting, Advanced Directing and Sound Design.
​
After graduating, in 2017, I was hired to direct a feature documentary called "Melancholia", about the depression in Greece due to the economical crisis, produced by Gamda and A&G Films.
​
In 2018 I was accepted at the Identity School of Acting in London and enrolled in two year-long study of acting.
​
In 2019 I started a youtube channel with weekly videos about my writing progress, my filmmaking projects and other acting related subjects, called Ariadne K. I was nominated by the Hellenic Film Academy for an Iris Award in the category "Best Short Documentary" for "Melancholia". I July 2019 I won the Clive Dailey Award for Most Outstanding Performance in the Showcase of the Identity School of Acting. I graduated from the IDSA in the Professional Tier in 2020.
​
In 2022 I joined a theater group in Geneva with the play "Kapodistrias", performed in a few theaters in Switzerland (in Geneva, Lausanne and Fribourg) and went on a tour in Greece in Kerkyra, Patra and Athens.
-
Actress:
-"Notre Dame de Paris", musical play (2010)
-"Hook Line and Sinker", feature film (2014)
-"The Clown", short film (2016)
-"Was it You", short film (2016)
-"What you can't see", short film (2016)
-"Nighthawks", short film (2017)
-"The Welfare Queen", short film (2017)
-"Take Nirvana", short film (2017)
-"The Pains of Youth", play. (2017)
-"Los", short film (2018)
- "Kapodistrias", play (2022)
​
-
Director:
- "Waiting for the Barbarians/ En attendant les Barbares" a short documentary about the crisis in Greece - 2014.
- "A Meaning to My life/ Qu'une raison de Vivre" a short fiction about a young boy with depression discovering the world - 2015
- Teasers for two different festivals : Festival Nanterre sur Scène and Festival Ciné-Rebelle - 2015
- "Through the Rabbit hole", short film - 2016
- "Don't Call Me Stranger", feature documentary bout the refugee crisis - 2017
- "Melancholia", feature documentary about the depression in Greece due to the economical crisis - 2018
​
-
Writer:
-​ "Les Terres Maudites", first book of a fantasy trilogy - 352 pages.
- "The Inner Noodle - Or How to Overcome your Fear of Phobias", co-writer of a medium length script.
​
​
- AWARDS/FESTIVAL PREMIERS -
​
- Filmography and Writing -
​
Contact me -

September 2016 - A one day shoot short film about a young girl that cannot remember where she knows a guy from. Daydreaming about how they could have met, she soon realizes the truth is not very romantic.

September 2016 - A one day shoot short film about a young man that struggles with anxiety before going on stage to perform. It's a mental battle between him and his subconscient that takes the form of a Clown, named Spyware.

Play performed at the LFH(ED) inspired by the play "Lysistrata" from Aristophanes.

September 2016 - A one day shoot short film about a young girl that cannot remember where she knows a guy from. Daydreaming about how they could have met, she soon realizes the truth is not very romantic.