Kamshad Kooshan
Encyclopedia
Kamshad Kooshan is an Iranian
-American Movie Writer and Director. كامشاد كوشان
Iranian-born & Bay Area film director
, screenwriter
and film producer
, Kamshad Kooshan, immigrated to the United States at the age of Sixteen. He has been involved with photography since the age of 12 and has had many exhibitions. Additionally he has directed full length plays in various San Francisco venues and has written and published many short stories, among them, Moonlit Garden, a collection of short stories published by Raha Press.
Since graduating from San Francisco State University
and studying at American Conservatory of Theatre, Kamshad Kooshan has written and directed three short films, with the last one, The Last Illusion touring such venues as American Film Institute
and UCLA Film & Television Archive. He has taught at the Graduate Motion Picture & Video department of Academy of Art University
in San Francisco for four years. Surviving Paradise
is his feature debut and the first American film by an Iranian-American filmmaker distributed in North America.
, while he was at the Ministry of Treasury.
His Uncle, Dr. Esmail Kooshan, a Berlin educated film lover with a PHd, who brought professional filmmaking into Iran and established Mitra Film and later on Pars Film, the only movie studio with a back lot in Iran for years. As a director & producer, he was the major force in shaping the mass view of films in Iran.
Kamshad Kooshan visited Pars Film Studios and attributes part of his love of films to those adventures at Pars Film Studios.
While he was around 2 years old, however his father died and his mother “Noori Khanoom”, Aka "Soghra Noorol Sadat- Sadate Larijani, despite all obstacles decided to raise her 5 children, namely the 5 boys she had, by herself. Noori Khanoom was from a wealthy family and because her clerical father was one of the Military Judges, she was not used to doing work and had always been surrounded by domestic help and chauffeurs, but soon she learned to rely on herself in order to raise her family.
In the early 1960s traditional Iran
was not an easy place in dealing with single mothers, but Noori Khanoom persevered and made sure that the boys all received a decent education. Kooshan spent his childhood going through austere environment where money was short and parental supervision was minimal and that is where he was able to receive most of his education, namely from the street and friends.
One of his main loves was Music. Even though he was completely immersed in memorizing all the songs he could hear and learned to play music by ear from early on, his mother’s adamant rejection of Music studies or any presence of instruments in the house, led him to abandon his passion for something less threatening to his studies at school. He picked up Photography
while he was around 12 years old and continued on.
As a 16 year old, he became heavily involved in the Iranian Revolution of 1979, but his mother forcefully decided to cut his presence in Iran short and send him abroad to United States, where he traveled alone to go to High School.
in Oakland, California, where such noted personalities as Tom Hank, had previously attended, while figuring the ins and out of life in America.
Being raised as a middle class child in Iran, he had led to believe that he must study a science major in college, so after graduating from High School, he studied Mechanical Engineering at Holy Names University
and Chico State University, but after studying for 3 years he realized that he did not know what he should study.
He took three years off from university and went to work in the "Real World". Even though his first passion was always Music, he knew that he was too old to become an established Musician, or an Orchestra Conductor. For a while he thought of studying Philosophy
and then Law, but eventually he decided that the fate of the future was in the field of Computers. In 1986 he went back to San Francisco State University
and studied Computer Science
and received his Bachelors with high grades.
Now that he had definitely decided what his occupation would be and then later on in 1990 landing a high paying job at Sybase
Inc, he decided to concentrate on his Artistic life.
Having set aside his musical passion, he decided to concentrate on a new way of expression. He had done photography since he was 12 years old. He now decided to go back into the dark room and spend many hours and days in the dark room to do experimentation with visual composition.
In the next few years, he also started to concentrate on Literature, namely short stories and Novels. For a few years he read and read most of the canons of literature and most of the notable writers works.
Having studied the ins and outs of writing short stories and Novels, he started to translate short stories from other languages into Persian. This included works by Italo Calvino and Jorge Luis Borges. He eventually started writing short stories and throughout the 1990s, he wrote many short stories.
In 1991 he went back to Iran to visit his family and in that trip, he showed a few of his short stories to renowned Iranian Poets and Critics, such as Ahmad Shamlou and Mohammad-Ali Sepanlou
. Sepanlou, identified several characteristics in Kooshan's short stories such as his visual way of writing and his strong similarities to watching a movie. He encouraged Kooshan to continue.
Kooshan, upon return to the United States, decided that the logical next step would be to not only continue writing short stories and do photography, but allow these two fields to merge and lead him into film making.
He started to concentrate his complete attention on watching films. For 2 years he watched most of the films of the History of Cinema, including the European films and Japanese films. At the same time he started to attend Film Arts Foundation, and independent film organization in San Francisco. He quickly learned the ins and outs of practical aspects of film making. As part of his work he made several short films which led him to go on a national tour in the United States as part of The International Tournee of Iranian Short Films which exhibited a program of short films that included Kooshans' near feature "The Last Illusion" and went on to such noted venues as, American Film Institutes' Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Harvard Film Archive
, Seattle Art Museum
and later to UCLA's Film & Television Archive.
Upon arrival from this national tour, he received an offer from Academy of Art University
in San Francisco to teach Screenplay writing and "Aesthetic & Style" at Graduate Film Department. In addition he was a graduate student advisor on Master Thesis for many film students. Having received this offer, after 6 years he quit his job at Sybase Inc and officially changed his means of living from science to Arts. He was at the Academy for 3 years.
During his time at the Academy of Art University, Kooshan attended many seminars and conferences on Independent Film Making, including a trip to Sundance Film Festival
at Park City Utah and attendance at Independent Feature Project in New York City.
He started to write the screenplay for Surviving Paradise, which went on to be selected as part of the 50 selected screenplays from more than 2000 screenplays submitted to Sundance Screenwriters Lab.
Kooshan went on to make, Surviving Paradise
, his feature film debut in 2000 which starred the Oscar nominated Iranian star, Shohreh Aghdashloo
. It took him 3 years to complete this project, but as an independent film, he worked on all aspects of this film, from gathering the financing to its shoot in Los Angeles and later on its distribution. He started the editing in San Francisco and with the help of a good friend, he secured a Co-Production deal with the Italian Sound Designer and producer, Fillipo Bussi, allowing him to go to Italy in order to do the Sound Design on the film.
After attending various International film festivals, including Cairo International Film Festival and Delhi Film Festival, Surviving Paradise premiered in Los Angeles and was in theaters for 3 months, making it the first English language Iranian film to be distributed in the United States. Surviving Paradise has been shown on many Television Stations around the world, including at prime time to more than 500 million people on India's prime channel.
Yahoo Movies
Iranian.com
Iranian peoples
The Iranian peoples are an Indo-European ethnic-linguistic group, consisting of the speakers of Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family, as such forming a branch of Indo-European-speaking peoples...
-American Movie Writer and Director. كامشاد كوشان
Iranian-born & Bay Area film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
and film producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
, Kamshad Kooshan, immigrated to the United States at the age of Sixteen. He has been involved with photography since the age of 12 and has had many exhibitions. Additionally he has directed full length plays in various San Francisco venues and has written and published many short stories, among them, Moonlit Garden, a collection of short stories published by Raha Press.
Since graduating from San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University is a public university located in San Francisco, California. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers over 100 areas of study from nine academic colleges...
and studying at American Conservatory of Theatre, Kamshad Kooshan has written and directed three short films, with the last one, The Last Illusion touring such venues as American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
and UCLA Film & Television Archive. He has taught at the Graduate Motion Picture & Video department of Academy of Art University
Academy of Art University
The Academy of Art University , a for-profit university owned by the Stephens Institute, was founded in San Francisco, California in 1929 by Richard S. Stephens...
in San Francisco for four years. Surviving Paradise
Surviving Paradise
Surviving Paradise is a 2001 American Family Adventure/drama film written & directed by Kamshad Kooshan. With three months of theatrical release in Major theaters in Southern California and San Francisco Bay Area, it is considered to be the First English Language Iranian-American film distributed...
is his feature debut and the first American film by an Iranian-American filmmaker distributed in North America.
Early life
Kooshan was born in Tehran, to a middle class family. His father Abbas Kooshan, was deputy to the former Prime Minister, Mr.Ali AminiAli Amini
Ali Amini was an Iranian politician and writer who was the Prime Minister of Iran from May 6, 1961 to July 19, 1962.-Early life:...
, while he was at the Ministry of Treasury.
His Uncle, Dr. Esmail Kooshan, a Berlin educated film lover with a PHd, who brought professional filmmaking into Iran and established Mitra Film and later on Pars Film, the only movie studio with a back lot in Iran for years. As a director & producer, he was the major force in shaping the mass view of films in Iran.
Kamshad Kooshan visited Pars Film Studios and attributes part of his love of films to those adventures at Pars Film Studios.
While he was around 2 years old, however his father died and his mother “Noori Khanoom”, Aka "Soghra Noorol Sadat- Sadate Larijani, despite all obstacles decided to raise her 5 children, namely the 5 boys she had, by herself. Noori Khanoom was from a wealthy family and because her clerical father was one of the Military Judges, she was not used to doing work and had always been surrounded by domestic help and chauffeurs, but soon she learned to rely on herself in order to raise her family.
In the early 1960s traditional Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
was not an easy place in dealing with single mothers, but Noori Khanoom persevered and made sure that the boys all received a decent education. Kooshan spent his childhood going through austere environment where money was short and parental supervision was minimal and that is where he was able to receive most of his education, namely from the street and friends.
One of his main loves was Music. Even though he was completely immersed in memorizing all the songs he could hear and learned to play music by ear from early on, his mother’s adamant rejection of Music studies or any presence of instruments in the house, led him to abandon his passion for something less threatening to his studies at school. He picked up Photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
while he was around 12 years old and continued on.
As a 16 year old, he became heavily involved in the Iranian Revolution of 1979, but his mother forcefully decided to cut his presence in Iran short and send him abroad to United States, where he traveled alone to go to High School.
Career in the United States
Coming to the States, he quickly attended Skyline High SchoolSkyline High School (Oakland, California)
Skyline High School is a public high school in Oakland, California. It is noted for its strong academics and athletic programs, and consistently ranks as the top performing school in the area in terms of standardized testing, SAT scores, college acceptance rates, and matriculation...
in Oakland, California, where such noted personalities as Tom Hank, had previously attended, while figuring the ins and out of life in America.
Being raised as a middle class child in Iran, he had led to believe that he must study a science major in college, so after graduating from High School, he studied Mechanical Engineering at Holy Names University
Holy Names University
Holy Names University is a private, coeducational university located in Oakland, California. It is affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church and is administered by the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary.-History:...
and Chico State University, but after studying for 3 years he realized that he did not know what he should study.
He took three years off from university and went to work in the "Real World". Even though his first passion was always Music, he knew that he was too old to become an established Musician, or an Orchestra Conductor. For a while he thought of studying Philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
and then Law, but eventually he decided that the fate of the future was in the field of Computers. In 1986 he went back to San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University is a public university located in San Francisco, California. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers over 100 areas of study from nine academic colleges...
and studied Computer Science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
and received his Bachelors with high grades.
Now that he had definitely decided what his occupation would be and then later on in 1990 landing a high paying job at Sybase
Sybase
Sybase, an SAP company, is an enterprise software and services company offering software to manage, analyze, and mobilize information, using relational databases, analytics and data warehousing solutions and mobile applications development platforms....
Inc, he decided to concentrate on his Artistic life.
Having set aside his musical passion, he decided to concentrate on a new way of expression. He had done photography since he was 12 years old. He now decided to go back into the dark room and spend many hours and days in the dark room to do experimentation with visual composition.
In the next few years, he also started to concentrate on Literature, namely short stories and Novels. For a few years he read and read most of the canons of literature and most of the notable writers works.
Having studied the ins and outs of writing short stories and Novels, he started to translate short stories from other languages into Persian. This included works by Italo Calvino and Jorge Luis Borges. He eventually started writing short stories and throughout the 1990s, he wrote many short stories.
In 1991 he went back to Iran to visit his family and in that trip, he showed a few of his short stories to renowned Iranian Poets and Critics, such as Ahmad Shamlou and Mohammad-Ali Sepanlou
Mohammad-Ali Sepanlou
Mohammad Ali Sepanlou is an Iranian poet and literary critic. He has been a co-founder, a member of the executive board, and editor of the journal of the Writers Association of Iran, in which capacity has opposed both the former regime of Shah Mohammad-Rezā Shāh Pahlavi and the government of the...
. Sepanlou, identified several characteristics in Kooshan's short stories such as his visual way of writing and his strong similarities to watching a movie. He encouraged Kooshan to continue.
Kooshan, upon return to the United States, decided that the logical next step would be to not only continue writing short stories and do photography, but allow these two fields to merge and lead him into film making.
He started to concentrate his complete attention on watching films. For 2 years he watched most of the films of the History of Cinema, including the European films and Japanese films. At the same time he started to attend Film Arts Foundation, and independent film organization in San Francisco. He quickly learned the ins and outs of practical aspects of film making. As part of his work he made several short films which led him to go on a national tour in the United States as part of The International Tournee of Iranian Short Films which exhibited a program of short films that included Kooshans' near feature "The Last Illusion" and went on to such noted venues as, American Film Institutes' Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Harvard Film Archive
Harvard Film Archive
The Harvard Film Archive is a film archive devoted to cinema located in the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It maintains a collection of over 9000 films and related documents, and regularly screens films in its 210 seat theater...
, Seattle Art Museum
Seattle Art Museum
The Seattle Art Museum is an art museum located in Seattle, Washington, USA. It maintains three major facilities: its main museum in downtown Seattle; the Seattle Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill, and the Olympic Sculpture Park on the central Seattle waterfront, which opened on...
and later to UCLA's Film & Television Archive.
Upon arrival from this national tour, he received an offer from Academy of Art University
Academy of Art University
The Academy of Art University , a for-profit university owned by the Stephens Institute, was founded in San Francisco, California in 1929 by Richard S. Stephens...
in San Francisco to teach Screenplay writing and "Aesthetic & Style" at Graduate Film Department. In addition he was a graduate student advisor on Master Thesis for many film students. Having received this offer, after 6 years he quit his job at Sybase Inc and officially changed his means of living from science to Arts. He was at the Academy for 3 years.
During his time at the Academy of Art University, Kooshan attended many seminars and conferences on Independent Film Making, including a trip to Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
at Park City Utah and attendance at Independent Feature Project in New York City.
He started to write the screenplay for Surviving Paradise, which went on to be selected as part of the 50 selected screenplays from more than 2000 screenplays submitted to Sundance Screenwriters Lab.
Kooshan went on to make, Surviving Paradise
Surviving Paradise
Surviving Paradise is a 2001 American Family Adventure/drama film written & directed by Kamshad Kooshan. With three months of theatrical release in Major theaters in Southern California and San Francisco Bay Area, it is considered to be the First English Language Iranian-American film distributed...
, his feature film debut in 2000 which starred the Oscar nominated Iranian star, Shohreh Aghdashloo
Shohreh Aghdashloo
Shohreh Aghdashloo is an Iranian American actress.After establishing a theatre and film career in Iran, Aghdashloo moved to England during the Iranian Revolution in 1979, and subsequently became a citizen of the United States...
. It took him 3 years to complete this project, but as an independent film, he worked on all aspects of this film, from gathering the financing to its shoot in Los Angeles and later on its distribution. He started the editing in San Francisco and with the help of a good friend, he secured a Co-Production deal with the Italian Sound Designer and producer, Fillipo Bussi, allowing him to go to Italy in order to do the Sound Design on the film.
After attending various International film festivals, including Cairo International Film Festival and Delhi Film Festival, Surviving Paradise premiered in Los Angeles and was in theaters for 3 months, making it the first English language Iranian film to be distributed in the United States. Surviving Paradise has been shown on many Television Stations around the world, including at prime time to more than 500 million people on India's prime channel.
Filmography
- In Search of Reality (aka Dar Jostejooye Vagheiyat), Writer/Director, 7 minutes, Video Documentary, 1993
- The Ring (aka Halghe), Writer/ Director, 8 minutes, Video, Narrative. (1995)
- The Last Illusion (aka Akharin Khiyaal), Writer/ Director, 47 minutes, 16mm, narrative. December 1994. Screenings at various venues such as: American Film Institute's Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Harvard Film Archive, Berkeley's Pacific Film Archive, Vancouver's Pacific Cinematheque.
- Butterfly (aka Shaparak Khanoom), Director, Feature, Multi-Betacam, Teleplay. 1999
- No Comment" (Bedoone Sharh), Writer/Director, Video, 2002–2005
- Surviving ParadiseSurviving ParadiseSurviving Paradise is a 2001 American Family Adventure/drama film written & directed by Kamshad Kooshan. With three months of theatrical release in Major theaters in Southern California and San Francisco Bay Area, it is considered to be the First English Language Iranian-American film distributed...
(aka Raaze Behesht), Wrtier/Director/Co-Producer, 2000, Feature, 35mm, Adventure/Drama. Released Theatrically in the United States. Participated at such film festivals as, NY Film Festival, Cairo International Film Festival, International Film Festival of India. Broadcast by many TV stations around the world. Scripts chosen by Sundance Film Festival
Plays
- The Lonely Woman (aka Zane Tanha), Co-Director. A full length play by Dario Fo, (S.F, CA 1994).
- Waves (aka Moj), Co-Director. A full-length play showcased in 1994 at the Exit Theater (S.F, CA).
- Operation No Penetration! (aka Dokhool Mamnoo), Co-Producer, Golden Thread Productions, Next Stage Theater, 1997 (S.F, CA)
- Behind Glass Windows (aka Poshte Panjereye Shisheyi), Co-Producer, Adeline Street Theater, 1998 (Berkeley, CA)
Photography
- Nestle , 2004
- To Foot (aka Be Paa), Photography Exhibition, Arya Gallery, 2002, Tehran, Iran.
Publications
- Talk of The Town (aka Goftegoo Dar Shahr), Editor. A monthly Persian Arts magazine (Bay Area, 1988–1991).
- Moonlit Garden (aka Baghe Mahtabi), . A collection of short stories in Persian. (Raha Publishing 1999)
External links
Oscars: Academy of Picture Arts & SciencesYahoo Movies
Iranian.com