Kirk Palayan

Kirk Palayan is a producer in the Hindi film industry who has written and produced several movies, including Barstow, Dissociative, Bhopali, and many more. His short film Labyrinth came to light in 2000 and got immensely appreciated for conveying a strong message regarding drug abuse at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. He also wrote the film Barstow(2003) along with Van Maximilian Carlson, which got played at the Toronto International Teen Movie Festival. He received the "Best Thriller" and "Most Promising Director" awards for his short film Dissociative (2008), which was written and produced by him. His first feature film, Bhopali (2011), was awarded the Best Overall Documentary and Audience Favorite Documentary by the Slamdance Film Festival. He produced Pinata Man in 2015.

In 2021 two of his documentaries, Skid Row and Los Angeles, got awarded as the audience's favorite documentary short by Dances with films 2021. He was also the unit production manager for the short film, Slayed by Divya and was the UPM and executive producer of the film; Princess of the row. Palayan is currently working on a reality television show and is also set to complete his first horror feature script. He is also the instructor for the digital imaging and 3D animation classes for the gifted technology arts magnet program at King Middle School in the LAUSD(Los Angeles Unified School District) and won several awards for his animation curriculum. His students also received recognition for their 3D animation work by the Los Angeles County Office of Education. He established the Animation & Film Festival, which brings to light some of the best work from student filmmakers and animators in the Los Angeles Unified School District.