Attend this film fest: Boston Festival of Films from Iran @ the MFA

Where is the Friend's House? (1987)

An unsung victim of the draconian Iranian regime is its film industry, once regarded as among the most accomplished in the world. But recently the authorities have incarcerated some of their best directors, including Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof, who nonetheless have completed features and smuggled them out of the country. The annual Boston Festival of Films From Iran will screen those contraband works, Rasoulof''s Good Bye and Panahi's This Is Not a Film, among its selection of both recent and older films. It opens Friday, January 20 with a film that helped start the Iranian film renaissance in the first place, Abbas Kiarostami's profound and touching Where is the Friend's House? (1987; 5:45 pm). The museum is at 465 Huntington Ave, Boston | $11; $9 students, seniors | 617.369.3907 or mfa.org.