Dr. Hamed Esmaeilion and Babak Payami: An Open Wound in the Sky

Stanford Iranian Studies Program

October 13, 2022

Speakers: Dr. Hamed Esmaeilion and Babak Payami

The Hamid and Christina Moghadam Program in Iranian Studies held a special screening of award-winning director Babak Payami’s new documentary "752 Is Not a Number" about the unprecedented downing of a passenger flight leaving Tehran airport by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. The film follows Dr. Hamed Esmaeilion’s struggles with grief and his fight for justice after losing his wife and daughter on flight PS752. Dr. Esmaeilion read excerpts from his memoir about the tragedy, "It Snows In This House." Mr. Payami and Dr. Esmaeilion discussed the film and answered questions after the screening. Introduction by Dr. Abbas Milani.

Babak Payami was born in Tehran in 1966 and grew up in Iran and Afghanistan before leaving for Europe and subsequently Canada. He enrolled in the Cinema Studies program at the University of Toronto and eventually returned to Iran in 1998 where he wrote, produced, and directed his debut feature film "One More Day." 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 and earned him several accolades in Venice, including the Best Director award.

In 2002 he began production on "Silence Between Two Thoughts" which he wrote, directed, and produced in remote areas of eastern Iran close to the borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan. All of the original material for the film was confiscated by the Iranian government and Babak was forced into exile in 2003.

Babak has produced and directed numerous projects and has taught at the Ludwigsburg Film Academy in Germany and conducted workshops in Italy and North America. He was the creative director of the Media Studio at Fabrica. The Imagisti Creative Studio is the convergence of Payami’s work as an independent artist. Based in Toronto, Imagisti is a hub for young creative talent offering a unique array of acting and directing training classes, film and music production workshops, and artist coaching and branding programs.

Dr. Hamed Esmaeilion was born in Kermanshah, Iran and grew up during the Iran-Iraq war that ravaged the western part of Iran, including his hometown.

Hamed earned his doctorate in dentistry in 2001. He married Parissa, a university classmate, and they opened a small dental practice in Tehran. In 2010, they moved to Canada when their daughter Reera was six months old and opened an independent practice just north of Toronto.

While in Iran, Hamed published four novels that earned him several awards from the top Iranian literary circles. His first novel, "Thyme is Not Pretty" was published in 2009 and won the Hooshang Golshiri award for best short story collection. His third book titled "Dr. Datis" was published in 2012 and was awarded the Hooshang Golshiri award for best novel. "Gamasyab Has No Fish" was published in 2014 and was critically acclaimed and subsequently banned by the Islamic Republic authorities. The novel was later translated and published in Spanish by a Mexican publisher. After being black-listed by the Islamic Culture and Guidance Ministry, Hamed published his next novel "The Blue Toukan" in the United Kingdom.

On January 8, 2020, Hamed lost his wife and nine-year old daughter who were aboard the Ukrainian flight PS752 that was shot down by IRGC missiles over the skies of Tehran. In the aftermath of the tragedy, he published his memoir "It Snows in This House."

Before the downing of flight PS752, Hamed was working on two novels, "The Fractured Diaries of the Chancellor" and "The Summer with Five Bullets." He completed and published the last three books under the label Pareera Publishing that he founded in honor of his wife and daughter.