Malek Jahan Khazai Information

Malek Jahan Khazai, born on August 10, 1949, in the village of Heydarabad, Torbat-e Heydarieh, Iran, is a distinguished production designer and art director in Iranian cinema and theater. She is renowned for her work on films such as Birth of a Butterfly (1997), The Hunter (2010), and The Heart and the Dagger (1994).

Early Life

Malek Jahan Khazai was born in 1949 in Heydarabad, a village in Torbat-e Heydarieh County. At the age of 14, she moved to England and began her university studies at 16. In 1967, she graduated with a degree in Fine Arts (painting and sculpture) from the University of London. In 1972, she earned a master’s degree in Arts Management from the Applied University College London and completed an internship at the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Professional Career

Before entering the film industry, Khazai worked as a set and costume designer at London’s Royal Court Theatre in 1970. During this period, she authored and illustrated two children’s books, The Patient Stone and The Deer Prince, in France, earning the Best Author and Illustrator of the Year award and recognition as a distinguished female writer by the French Women’s Association.

In Europe, she designed sets and costumes for plays such as Mahabharata, This Marvelous Creature, Don Juan, and Another Rostam, Another Esfandiar. In 1972, at the invitation of Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Arts, she returned to Iran and took on the role of permanent designer at the Theater Department. During this time, she collaborated with prominent artists like Ezzatollah Entezami, Davood Rashidi, and Roknoddin Khosravi on over 45 plays, including Stone and Flute, Theatrical Agency, Sunset in a Strange Land, The Tale of the Hidden Moon, and A Dog in the Haystack.

Her first cinematic project in Iran was designing the set and costumes for Prince Ehtejab (1974), directed by Bahman Farmanara. She also worked on television series such as Samak Ayyar and Ancient Persian Legends, and in Europe, she contributed to films like The Tartar Desert, Meeting with Remarkable Men, Sacred Dances, In Exile, Mahabharata, and The First Bridge. Other notable films in Iran include Long Shadows of the Wind (1978) and Molkout (1978).

Post-revolution, Khazai continued her prolific career, designing sets and costumes for numerous films, including Zero Heights (1993), Poor Lover (1995), The Heart and the Dagger (1994), Feast (1996), Gazelle (1996), Fifth Season (1997), Birth of a Butterfly (1997), Two Women (1998), Sanam (2000), Daughters of the Sun (1999), Burnt Generation (1999), Tick (2001), Rain (2001), A Girl Named Tondar (2000), Little Lady (2002), and Dekhil (2001).

Khazai also designed the sets for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 33rd Fajr Film Festival.

Awards

• Winner of the Special Selection Golden Plaque
• Crystal Simorgh for Best Set Design in the International Competition Section at the 16th Fajr Film Festival (1997) for Birth of a Butterfly
• Crystal Simorgh for Best Art Direction in the Iranian Cinema Competition Section at the 12th Fajr Film Festival (1993) for Zero Heights

Selected Filmography

• Doubt (2008)
• The Hunter (2008)
• Seven and Five Minutes (2008)
• It’s Winter (2005)
• Don’t Leave Me Alone (2004)
• Cold Tears (2003)
• Tick (2001)
• Dekhil (2001)
• A Girl Named Tondar (2000)
• Daughters of the Sun (1999)
• Burnt Generation (1999)
• Two Women (1998)
• Poor Lover (1995)
• The Heart and the Dagger (1994)
• Zero Heights (1993)
• Long Shadows of the Wind (1978)

Personal Life

Malek Jahan Khazai is the mother of Rafi Pitts, an Iranian film director and writer.