Valiollah Khakdan

Valiollah Khakdan (1923 – 1996) was an Iranian art director and accomplished set designer.

Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, he graduated from the faculty of painting at the Art School there and started his career as an art director with Prince's Prisoner (1998, E. Koushan). He immigrated to Iran in 1938. Due to his background in painting, he became a set designer in theatres of Tabriz. He is known as a pioneer of set designing in Iranian cinema. He moved to Tehran in 1946 and worked in the bigger theatres. Although he had a limited experience and background in Iranian cinema, made some decorations for historical films which are among the memorable and outstanding examples. He was one of the supervisors for building a small town for IRIB as the location of historical films and TV series.

Filmography Golden Dreams, 1951 The Mother, 1952 Mashdi Ebaad, 1953 Eagle of Tous The Bride of Tigris, 1954 Fabulous Amir Arsalan (first version), 1955 Yousuf and Zoleikha (first version), 1956 Ladder of Progress Jacob Leis, 1957 Bizhan and Manizheh Ray of Hope The Broken Spell, 1958 Spring of Life Water, 1959 Arshin Malalan, 1960 You Have Mistaken Me, Madam! Bitter Honey Midnight's Cry, 1961 Aras Khan, 1963 Fabulous Amir Arsalan (second version) Hossein Kurd Shabestary, 1966 Diamond 33 Nasim Ay'yar, 1987 Dragon Cape Yousuf and Zoleikha (second version), 1968 Breed of Braves, 1969 Leili and Madjnoun, 1970 Abbaseh and Djafar Barmaki, 1972 The Sleeping Lion, 1977 Kamalolmolk, 1984 Mirza Norouz's Shoes, 1985 The First Deputy, 1986 The Magnificent Day (co), 1988 Great Expectation Kakado (co), 1994