Shanghai
China International Arts Festival
In its 11th year, the festival presents an eclectic array of arts events, from Chinese traditional opera to Scottish contemporary dance. On Saturday, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo starts the ball rolling with Cendrillon, the creation of director-choreographer Jean-Christophe Maillot. For something more avante-garde, the Scottish Dance Theatre mounts its modern dance piece, Tenderhook, while theatre includes Bavarian Theatre Academy’s stage adaptation of Dogville, the film by Danish director Lars von Trier. Musical offerings range from a performance of Peony Pavilion by the Suzhou Kunqu Opera Troupe to an appearance by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Riccardo Chailly. Ends November 18.

Seattle
Earshot Jazz Festival
The annual festival, now in its 21st year, opens on Friday and presents more than 50 one-of-a-kind events in concert halls, clubs and community centres around the city. Early highlights include appearances by the Puerto Rican saxophonist Miguel Zenón on Friday and Saturday, and by New Orleans star Allen Toussaint on Sunday; later events will feature pianist Hal Galper, saxophonist Hadley Caliman and guitarist John Abercrombie. The Earshot Jazz Film Festival, which celebrates jazz in cinema, runs alongside from October 20 until November 5; the festival proper ends on November 8.

London
BFI film festival

‘Fantastic Mr Fox’ opens the London Film Festival

The 53rd London Film Festival opens on Wednesday with Fantastic Mr Fox, Wes Anderson’s animation of Roald Dahl’s classic children’s book. Highlights this week include Claire Denis’s White Material, in which Isabelle Huppert stars as a woman living in revolutionary times in an African nation, and Grant Heslov’s The Men Who Stare At Goats, a blackly comic look at the US military’s dabbling with parapsychology, starring George Clooney. The world cinema section will feature Gulaal, Indian director Anurag Kashyap’s meditation on political intrigue and corruption. Continues until October 29.

Paris
Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan: City of Gods, just opened in the Musée du Quai Branly, presents some 450 objects from the ancient Mexican city of Teotihuacan. Today the site, with its vast pyramids and grand avenue – abandoned more than 1,000 years ago – is a must-see on any trip to Mexico, but many mysteries remain about its people; this exhibition offers some fascinating glimpses into their culture, with pottery, stone carvings, substantial frieze fragments and much else. The Aztecs saw themselves as inheritors of Teotihuacan’s traditions: this would make a terrific companion for the British Museum’s Moctezuma show in London.

New York
Signs

Khaled Al-Saa’i’s ‘Carpet of Letters’ shows in New York

Signs: Contemporary Arab Art, opening on Wednesday at the Sundaram Tagore Gallery, displays the work of seven contemporary Middle Eastern artists, in particular their treatment of ancient Islamic art. Traditional calligraphy and symbols infuse the work of Qatari artist Yousef Ahmad, who distils Arabic letters into abstract shapes, while Syrian artist Khaled Al-Saa’i draws on Sufi philosophy, painting words into spacious landscapes. Media include paint on canvas, collage, wood and gold leaf and ink on paper. Runs until November 14.

Hong Kong
Insert Coin
Insert Coin: Spanish Contemporary Art, which opened on Sunday at Para/site Arts Space, centres on the mechanisms of art production, and in particular the old but not always easy relationship between art and money. The exhibition showcases work by nine young artists from Madrid, including Avelino Sala, whose multidisciplinary pieces examine the artist’s role in today’s capitalist society, and Josechu Dávila, whose work questions its own physicality and saleability. Until November 15.

Belfast
Festival at Queen’s
The annual arts festival features more than 250 events. The opening Friday is a good indicator of its range: Valery Gergiev and his Mariinsky Orchestra, with soprano Anastasia Kalagina, perform at the Belfast Waterfront in a concert of Dutilleux’s Correspondences and Shostakovich’s Leningrad symphony; Queen’s Naughton Gallery hosts works by textile artist Michael Brennand-Wood; and, marking 100 years since the birth of filmmaker Joseph Losey (The Go-Between), the 1967 film Accident, on which Losey collaborated with Harold Pinter, will be shown at Queen’s Film Theatre. On Saturday, the Ulster Orchestra perform at the Belfast Waterfront and on Sunday A Time to Speak, a one-woman play based on the memoirs of Holocaust survivor Helen Lewis, will be staged at Elmwood Hall. Ends on October 31.

Cape Town
Partly God
Jazzart Dance Theatre, the South African contemporary dance company that aims to merge western and African dance styles, presents its new production on Friday at Artscape Theatre. The piece, directed by Lara Foot and set to a soundtrack composed and performed by Neo Muyanga, follows the story of a young man’s search for his father. Its dreamlike choreography explores universal issues of conflict and violence, as well as themes particular to South African society. Ends October 25.