Esmail Koushan (Persian: اسماعیل کوشان‎) (1917-1981) was an Iranian film director who was one of the pioneering figures of Persian cinema. He was one of the first active figures in the Second Filmmaking Period (post 1945) there he has been called "the father of the Iranian film industry" by Georges Sadoul.

Koushan, who studied film-making in Germany at Universum Film Aktienge-Sellschafe (UFA), began by dubbing foreign-language films into Persian. He then set up the Mitrafilm company, which produced his first feature film in 1948, The Storm of Life. He directed more than 20 and produced more than 50 movies during the years. He died in 1981.