Nikos Kolioukos (b. 1996) is a Greek film director based in Athens & New York. He holds a Master’s degree in Film Studies from the Film Department of the School of Fine Arts at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2023). In August 2025, he completed the intensive course at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York, to deepen in the art of acting and the human condition, studying the famous Stella Adler Technique.

His debut short film, The Chaos She Left Behind (2023), premiered at 77th Cannes Film Festival, where it was awarded 2nd Prize in La Cinef (2024).

The same year, ARTE TV, Europe’s premier public service channel dedicated to culture, acquired the rights to distribute the film in France and Germany, as part of a special edition featuring selected films, Court-circuit: Award-Winning Films from Cannes 2024.

The film was also selected at the official Competition at 30th Sarajevo International Film Festival (2024).

In 2025, the film was officially selected by the French Academy of Cinema (Les César) for Les Nuits en Or 2025 program, an international showcase featuring short films awarded by national film academies around the world (César, Oscars, BAFTA, Goya, etc.) The film was chosen by Les César to represent Greece as the country’s sole selection, and will be screened in major cities across Europe and Latin America (June 2025). 

In Greece, was warded by Hellenic Film Academy with the Iris award for Best Student Short Film 2024. It also received the Best Director and Best Actress Awards t the 46th Drama International Short Film Festival (National Student Competition). In 2023, the Greek Film Centre, and in 2024, the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, commissioned Nikos Kolioukos to direct their official annual promotional campaigns, as an honorary distinction for the international recognition of his film.

Nikos Kolioukos is currently developing his next short film, Amnesia, a queer love story set in the working-class Thessaloniki of the 1980s and the present day, produced by Homemade Films (Kyveli Short, Maria Drandaki / Greece) and Les Films de Juillet (Marie-Gabrielle Peaucelle / France). The project is funded by the Greek Film Centre, the Onassis Foundation, and MEDIA - Creative Europe (2025).