Babak Payami (, born 1966) is an Iranian-Canadian film director, writer and producer. Biography Born in Tehran, Iran, Payami grew up in Afghanistan and Iran before leaving for Europe and subsequently Canada, where he became a Canadian citizen. He enrolled in the cinema studies program at the University of Toronto in the early 90s while working as translator and court interpreter. In 1998 he returned to Iran where he wrote, produced and directed his debut feature film One More Day, which 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 competed in the official program of the Venice International Film Festival in 2001. It 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. It was completed after a difficult 73-day shoot. Payami was eventually arrested by Iranian officials during its editing. All original negative and sound material for Silence Between Two Thoughts was confiscated by the Iranian government, and 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. In 2003, he was a member of the jury at the 25th Moscow International Film Festival. Since his exile, Payami has taught at the Ludwigsburg Film Academy in Germany, and conducted numerous workshops in Italy and North America while developing his English-language film projects. In late 2007 and until January 2010, he was the creative director of the Media Studio at Fabrica, a United Colors of Benetton Communication Arts research Centre in Northern Italy, where he produced several projects including I Am Jesus, directed by Valerie Gudenus and Heloisa Sartorato; and Branding Kosovo, directed by Diego Hurtado de Mendoza. In 2006, Payami reestablished Payam Films Inc. in Toronto with his partner Charles Wachsberg, and began development of several projects, including an original story he wrote on Caravaggio, titled "Chiaroscuro"; his adaptation of a Chingiz Aitmatov book, "The Eternal Day"; and "Mina" and "Assassiyun", which he co-wrote with Toronto writer Ian