Mahmoud Koushan (or Mahmoud Kushan) is one of the pioneer Iranian cinematographers. He was born in Tehran in 1933, and is the brother of filmmaker Esmail Koushan, AKA the Father of Iranian Cinema.

He was the first Iranian filmmaker who went to Italy and Germany for technical training at Cinecittà Studios, Agfa Laboratories and Arriflex Cameras. He worked as a Lab Technician, Sound Recordist, Editor, Assistant Camera and Gaffer before he shot his first film, Amir Arsalan, as cinematographer in 1955.

He directed his first film, Nouveau Riche in 1961 and was the first to shoot Iranian CinemaScope & color feature films. Broken Spell (1958) was recognized at the Berlin Film Festival for his color cinematography. He won Best Cinematography for Joseph and Zoleika at the Sepas Film Festival in 1968.

He was banned from working as a filmmaker after the Iranian 1979 revolution. He has worked on some productions as cinematographer in the early 1990s in Iran.

Mahmoud Koushan passed at age 88 in Los Angeles, CA in February 2021.

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Mahmoud Koushan

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