GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN
Award-winning actresses Alicia Vikander and Juliette Binoche, and writer Ian McEwan, are just a few of the famous faces who will attendthe Goteborg Film Festival, the largest film festival in Scandinavia.
This year's edition is packed with about 450 films from 80 countries, which visitors can enjoy at 1,053 screenings during the week-long festival in Sweden.
The festival also features live music performances, art exhibits and the Dragon Awards for the year's best films, which include a prize of one million Swedish crowns (S$165,090) for Best Nordic Film, the largest film prize in the world.
When: Till Feb 4
Info: goteborgfilmfestival.se/en
MOSCOW, RUSSIA
In the last week before the start of Great Lent - the most important period of fasting for the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches - people in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and their diaspora communities around the world celebrate Maslenitsa.
Also known as Butter or Pancake Week, this religious and folk holiday symbolises the end of winter and a period of celebration before Great Lent, when meat, fish, eggs and dairy products, wine and oil are traditionally forbidden.
Maslenitsa is the last week when eggs and dairy are permitted before Eastern Orthodox Pascha (Easter) and people celebrate by eating copious amounts of blini (thin Russian-style crepes) piled with caviar, butter and cream.
There are also vibrant parties, dancing and music performances, which are not appropriate during the pious days ahead.
On the last day of Maslenitsa, also known as Forgiveness Sunday, friends and relatives ask one another for forgiveness for the year's wrongs and any remaining pancakes are thrown into a bonfire.
When: Feb 12 to 18
Info: tinyurl.com/q2ypa9w
LHASA, TIBET
Losar, the Tibetan New Year, is the most important festival in the Tibetan calendar.
Although it is often celebrated over 15 days around the Tibetan New Year, often in January or February, the most important are the two days before and after.
The two days before the New Year are called Gutor, during which people prepare for the coming year.
The kitchen is completely cleaned and evil spirits are cleared from the home using firecrackers and torches made of straw.
Dishes, such as a soup comprising meat, rice, yak cheese, vegetables and small dumplings called guthuk, are prepared. Dough balls filled with special ingredients such as chilli, salt, wool and coal - each ingredient is a symbol of a person's character - are handed out.
Religious ceremonies are performed and Tibetans visit monasteries, where they donate money and gifts to the monks.
On New Year's Day, everyone rises early, takes a bath and dresses in new clothes before making offerings at the family shrine and visiting their families for a reunion dinner where they have a cake called kapse and an alcoholic drink called chang.
When: Feb 16
Info: tinyurl.com/yd28sdh6
MONTREAL, CANADA
More than one million people attend Montreal en Lumiere - one of the biggest winter festivals in the world - every year for 11/2 weeks of performing arts events, food fairs and family-friendly activities.
A gastronomic attraction in its own right, the festival features Montreal's culinary delights through tastings, workshops, demonstrations and pairings by the city's finest chefs, as well as visiting chefs from around the world.
The cultural programme includes music, theatre, circus and dance performances by more than 600 artists in 226 shows across 41 venues and stages.
The real highlight of the festival is Nuit Blanche (March 3), when more than 300,000 visitors come to the city to attend the 200 musical, food, cultural and sports activities, which are mostly free and run all night long - from 6pm to 6am. The city is also illuminated by thousands of lights.
When: Feb 22 to March 4
Info: tinyurl.com/ycyqgspb
TAPAPAKANGA REGIONAL PARK, NEW ZEALAND
Hundreds of people gather for Splore, an annual eclectic three-day music, arts and spiritual festival that takes place in a park along a picturesque coastline about an hour's drive south-east of Auckland.
Dozens of artworks and installations are peppered around the festival grounds and visitors can enjoy circus acts and dance performances. The atmosphere is amplified by the hip-hop, indie and electronic dance music soundtrack of about 80 bands and solo acts.
The biggest party takes place on Feb 24, when everyone shows up in costume to dance the night away.
Those looking for a break from the entertainment can go for yoga, massage and reflexology sessions, as well as tarot readings, henna art and vision board workshops.
When: Feb 23 to 25
Info: www.splore.net
Lydia Vasko
