Babak Payami
Babak Payami (born 1966) is an Iranian-Canadian filmmaker who came to international attention with Secret Ballot (2001) before being forced into exile by Iranian authorities. Born in Tehran with maternal roots in Baku, he grew up between Iran and Afghanistan, left for Europe and then Canada, and studied cinema at the University of Toronto while working as a translator and court interpreter. He returned to Iran to make his debut One More Day (2000), which premiered in Berlin and won a prize at the Tokyo International Film Festival. Secret Ballot, a deadpan comedy about an election in a remote desert region, won him the Silver Lion for Best Director at Venice. During post-production on his next film Silence Between Two Thoughts (2003), Iranian officials confiscated the negatives and arrested him; he completed a reconstructed version from a salvaged hard drive after going into exile.