Babak Payami established the Payam Films in the mid 1990’s in Canada. He later registered Payam Films Institute upon his return to Iran in 1998 and  produced three motion pictures before a forced exile in 2003. “One More Day” was Babak Payami’s debut feature film which premiered at the 2000 Berlinale, Panorama Special program. One More Day was awarded the Best Artistic Contribution Award at the Tokyo International Film Festival. In 2001, “Secret Ballot” premiered in the main competition of the Venice international film festival winning several awards including Silver Lion for Best Director. “Silence Between Two Thoughts” was Payami’s third feature film that was shot in eastern Iran near the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan during 2002. After the original material for Silence… was confiscated by government authorities in Iran, he managed to reconstruct the film from computer files he could salvage after the raid of his offices in Iran.  The film was released on a video format in the Upstream Competition of Venice 2003. Since the controversial release of Silence Between Two Thoughts, Babak Payami has endeavoured in making films outside of Iran in order to avoid entanglement with certain elements in the Iranian government whose sole purpose is to intimidate and hinder the independent arts community in Iran.

Babak Payami continues his work internationally with dramatic and animated feature films, teaching filmmaking and engaging with cultural and social causes.

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