What's on this week: 28 October-3 November

If you missed the kick-off to the 800th anniversary of Saint-Gilles you can still celebrate the occasion with the Saint-Gilles Fantastique! exhibition at the Museum of Fantastic Art. The museum put out a call to all artists for their phantasmagorical visions of the borough of Saint-Gilles and the results will be on display in the form of giant postcards. There's also a game, with the aim to make it to the borough hall without falling victim to the enormous monsters on the prowl.
Museum of Fantastic Art, opening 27 October 18.30, then 29 October-6 November 11.00-17.00, free

This year Belgium and Japan celebrate a century and a half of diplomatic friendship with state ceremonies and cultural events across Belgium. One of the programme’s centrepieces is A Feverish Era in Japanese Art, which surveys the thriving underground arts scene in post-war Japan. The years following the Japanese surrender were full of cultural ferment as the exhausted nation’s artists re-evaluated traditional forms, much like their counterparts in Europe and the United States. Indeed, the end of the war inaugurated a truly global avant-garde movement fuelled by exchanges between East and West.
Until 22 January, Bozar, Brussels

Brussels’ newest urban arts festival,, the Brussels Street Photography Festival, stakes its claim with an inaugural edition packed with exhibitions, discussion panels, workshops, photo walks and parties. The main events are its twin photo showcases: one dedicated to invited guests (including Magnum photographers Harry Gruyaert and Bieke Depoorter) and another given to young and hungry photogs who paid for the chance to compete in various categories. Submitted works document street life in Brussels and other cities around the world. Only pre-selected finalists will appear in the festival. By the end of it, these will be whittled down to a handful of prize-winners by a jury of industry veterans.
Until 2 November, across Brussels

Brussels’ International Children’s Film Festival, Filemon, is back for another week-long celebration of family-friendly cinema. This 10th anniversary edition boasts more than 100 screenings at 16 venues around the capital. The latest shorts and features are in the running for prizes in three categories, all judged by for-real youth juries. The festival also features avant-premieres, workshops, special events and concerts. This year’s theme is, after all, music. A retrospective programme showcases musical films, musicals and other music-related movies, from the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine to Jim Henson and David Bowie’s Labyrinth and beyond.
30 October-7 November, across Brussels

Explore the Belgium et cetera exhibition of editorial and political cartoons and then get busy with pencils and paper during family workshops, making your own cartoons and caricatures. Registration required via the website; price includes one adult and one child. (In Dutch or French.)
2-4 November, Museum BELvue, Place des Palais 7, Brussels; €10

More than 80 sculptures conduct a dialogue with paintings, ceramics, photographs and objets d’art from Picasso’s private collection, revealing the artist’s creative power in experimenting with a range of materials and techniques.
Until 5 March, Bozar, Rue Ravenstein 23, Brussels