Screening over three weeks in November, Asia Society New York’s film series Iranian New Wave offers a rare opportunity to explore a vital yet little seen period in Iran’s film history. Responding to the same currents that were then electrifying cinema from Paris to Prague to Tokyo, Iranian filmmakers of the 1960s and ’70s produced a range of formally innovative, socially conscious and philosophically searching films that paved the way for the later, more internationally recognized generation of auteurs that includes Abbas Kiarostami, Jafar Panahi, Ashghar Farhadi and Mohsen Makhmalbaf. Presented in conjunction with Asia Society Museum’s Iran Modern exhibition, Iranian New Wave encompasses fiction features, documentary shorts and a documentary about this era of Iranian film in seven programs. Below, Asia Society Film Curator La Frances Hui discusses the genesis of the series and some of the hurdles she had to overcome in bringing these rare films to New York in 2013.

Read More: Iranian New Wave Film Curator Uncovers a Precious, Threatened Legacy