Paxton’s first documentary, SILK ROAD ALA TURKA, was shot while traveling with 3 Turkish photographers as the core of an intrepid team that traced the Silk Road by camel caravan through China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Turkey. His feature debut, CRUDE, shot on location in Turkey, won the “Best Feature Narrative” award at the Los Angeles Film Festival and a Special Jury Prize at the Seattle Film Festival. His second script, A CRASH COURSE (co-written with Emre Mirza) was chosen to participate in the prestigious Sundance Screenwriter’s Laboratory.

A CRASH COURSE and his latest script A COLD WAR (co-written with Aylin Tinel) were both work shopped with a group of 12 actors under the tutelage of a renowned acting coach. In the meantime, Paxton’s documentary work has taken him from Baghdad, Iraq to the Burundian refugee camps of Tanzania to the Buddhist Kingdom of Bhutan.

In addition to shooting a hit TV series in Turkey, Paxton also shoots and produces news feature pieces for major American and European news organizations. Recently he was awarded a National Press Photographer’s Award and a White House Photographer’s Association Award for a story he shot (and co-wrote with NPR’s Ivan Watson) about an Iraqi refugee and her Marine husband struggling in Ozark, Missouri. Speaking fluent Turkish, Paxton often collaborates with Istanbul based film collective Vav Film Group. When not working on his own projects, he can be found in Jacmel, Haiti teaching (and learning from) the students at the non-profit Cine Lekol Film Institute. Represented in the United States by the United Talent Agency, Paxton moves between his bases in New York, Istanbul and Rio.