Taste for auteurism and formal experimentation was first introduced to Iranian audiences through a series of critically acclaimed international art films screened in custom-built theaters in capital and other cities in the 1960s and early 1970s.These films were shown as part of a program that had been designed by young, educated cinephiles (bazaaris) to cater to their tastes. In an attempt to introduce artistic, intellectual, European-style experimental films to persian audiences, these cinephiles organized traveling film festivals that showcased unusual narrative features from around the world.