Babak Payami

Born in Tehran in 1966. He grew up in Afghanistan and Iran before leaving for Europe and subsequently Canada where he became a Canadian citizen. He later enrolled in the cinema studies program at the University of Toronto during the early 90s while working as translator and court interpreter.

In 1998 Payami returned to Iran where he wrote, produced and directed his debut feature film "One More Day". It premiered in the official Panorama Special program of the Berlin International Film Festival 2000. He later wrote, directed and co-produced with Marco Mueller, his second feature film "Secret Ballot" which went on to compete in the official program of the Venice International Film Festival in 2001. The film earned him several accolades in Venice including the Best Director award.

In 2002 Payami began production on "Silence Between Two Thoughts" which he wrote, directed and produced in the remote areas of eastern Iran close to the borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The film was completed after a difficult 73-day shoot. Payami was eventually arrested by Iranian officials during the editing of the film. All original negative and sound material for Silence Between Two Thoughts was confiscated by the Iranian government and Babak Payami was forced into exile during the summer of 2003. A working copy of the film was salvaged on a hard disk and with help from fellow Italian filmmakers Payami released a reconstructed version of the film in the official program of the Venice International Film festival. official program of the Venice International Film festival.