Two films at a glance  from the International Competition at Visions du Réel. Reviews by Emma Johnson Intérieurs de Delta by Sylvain L’Espérance is showing at 13:30 today, Tuesday 20 April, at the Capitole 2 Fellini cinema and La Montée au Ciel by Stephane Breton will screen in the same theatre tonight at 20:00 Intérieurs de Delta, directed by Sylvain L’Espérance, is filmed in the area surrounding the dramatic Niger River in Mali. It documents how entwined the Bozo peoples’ live and livelihoods are with the river and surrounding nature, as well as recording the Bozos’ stories. The film opens with two local men talking and sitting in the shade against a clay wall - one is a fisherman who the director will follow, and one is a dugout canoe maker. As their tales pour forth, we quickly understand that Mali is stuck somewhere between the demands of the modern world and a traditional way of life. The audience learns that the global economy has had its effects on this region of dusty earth and humble villages. With the rising costs of petrol and wood, the drop in the river water levels and the amount of fish, and a lack of education, the men lament how they have inherited a situation that cannot be undone nor improved upon. The fisherman speaks of the backbreaking labour required just to make ends meet, and this sense of futility is explored throughout the film. Travelling along the river, we arrive at the fisherman’s family home, a small hut on the dry banks of the Niger. His wife, speaking to the camera, her modest belongings around her, repeats that the work of the Bozo is never finished. The audience soon sees her pounding grains; the rhythm of her work highlighting the relentless rhythm of her life. Perhaps the most heartbreaking tale is when the fisherman’s oldest son sums up the situation. He states that his grandparents and parents have "left us nothing", and that each generation starts back at the same point in their struggle for subsistence living. We see the family bringing in the fishing nets, and the solitary fish that flaps in the net drives home the point that these people spend their waking hours trying to feed themselves, doing hard physical work from childhood to old age. Their lives are reminiscent of the Myth of Sisyphus, where the Greek hero is condemned to forever push a boulder up a hill, only for it to roll back down upon arrival at the top. In addition to capturing a way of life and the incredible and sometimes bleak surroundings, Espérance also beautifully films a powerful storm in the night sky. We see the family huddled in their small hut as lightning rips across the sky, once again victim to forces beyond their control. La Montée au Ciel, directed by Stephane Breton opens with a close up on the incredible, weathered face of a Nepali shepherd, whose life is mapped out in the fine lines - this is fitting for a documentary that was made as part of a series called Visages du monde (Faces of the World) in memory of Nicolas Bouvier, the Swiss writer and traveller. The next shot shows this sole Nepali shepherd quietly smoking a cigarette under an umbrella amidst the green mountains. A feeling of solitude is instantly created, as is a reflective, meditative atmosphere. The documentary then moves to a poor Brahman village, where all are bickering over the exact dimensions of their land. Oppressiveness is thick here as we see the worn faces, worn clothes, thick mud and ever-present flies. These conditions and the density of population concentrated in this one place, despite the enormous surrounding space available, create a desire to get away and head for the hills. Breton himself is never directly present in the documentary, leaving the villagers and the place to speak for themselves. This is total immersion, and beside the occasional looks at the camera from protagonists, the audience could almost forget the director is even there. After the screening, Breton told us that he wanted to show these people as they are and he does so very successfully. After the heated scenes in the village, the director follows two shepherds in their ascent up the mountain with their herds. Silence and solitude are built upon as we first see one of the shepherds slowly making chapatti in his room, and then later lying down to sleep on the mountain slopes as his herd grazes, sheltered from the rain only by a sheet of plastic. As the film moves up, it also moves to the interior. The ascent is a meditative trip, filled with a quiet spirituality, timelessness and pastoral solitude. It is quiet beautiful.

Seasons Greetings and a Very Merry Christmas from Living in Nyon!   Church services, New Year's Eve party and more late night shopping. Tonight (Monday 23rd December) there will be another late shopping night in Nyon. Shops will be open until 22:00. The late night shopping event last Friday was great fun, not only were the shops and restaurants open and busy with customers, but local clubs and societies were also in the streets, some of them serving vin chaud.  See photo below of the firemen serving hot wine. The department store Manor also had a bar outside in the street with staff on hand to serve champagne! See photos below. La Côte church services  in Gingins, Divonne  and Genolier Services in the village church of Gingins 24th December 14.30 Crib Service for children 24th December 16.30 Christmas Eve Eucharist Services at the Eglise réformée in Divonne 25th December 10.00 Christmas Day Family Communion  Genolier: 23 rd  December 20.00 Service of Nine Lessons & Carols  Westlake Church in Nyon  24th December Christmas Carols by Candlelight  at 17:00 Geneva Holy Trinity Church The traditional Service of Nine Lessons and Carols, accompanied by Holy Trinity Choir, will be held on Christmas Eve, starting at 17.30, in the Cathedral of St. Pierre, Geneva Old Town. Be sure to arrive in good time to find a seat - and enjoy an organ recital before the service, starting at 17.00. New Year's Eve Party in Nyon - Free tickets! The Usine a Gaz is very kindly offering 5 pairs of tickets to its New Year's Masked Ball event on the  31st December (tickets  for this event are normally 25 CHF per person). There will be music, DJs champagne and more! See Usine a Gaz's own website for more information.  To be in with a chance of winning a pair of tickets email info@livinginnyon.com with both names of the couple requiring tickets.

Family Entertainment in Nyon The bright red building near the Place Perdtemps car park in Nyon is looking very festive at the moment as there are strings of lights around it to mark the opening of the Elastique Citrique's  new show called IndiVIEsible. The title of the show plays on the word "life" and in this production, there will be 13 performers interpreting this theme using acrobatics, juggling and trapeze work in this fun family show. The show starts on Friday 4th March and continues every Friday, Saturday and Sunday until the 20th. Click here for ticket reservations Learn Circus Skills over the Easter Holidays The Elastique Citrique school also teaches circus skills and offers a variety of courses throughout the year. The school is currently offering 3 and 4 day courses over the Easter period for children aged 5 - 8 years, 8 - 11 years and 12-16 years old. Click here for details.

Photo above (cnp) -  Early evening on the terrace of Nyon château Did you know that every first Saturday of the month (from May to October), Nyon Tourism organises a guided tour around the town for tourists, guests (and residents too!) to discover Nyon's rich cultural history? Tours are given in French, German and English, they begin at 10:30 and finish approx an hour and a half later with an apéro and snack  in the wine cellar of the château.  You don't need to reserve, just turn up at 10:30 this Saturday 7th July outside the castle. Price - Adults 20 chf , children free. For further information call Nyon Tourist office on 022 365 6600. Photo below -  copyright Grégoire Chappuis - The Nyon guides Local farm shops and bbq spots La Côte newspaper recently introduced an excellent new information section called "Cest facile de.." ("It's easy to.."). The articles in this section provides lots of  useful local information such as:  "It's easy to... do your shopping at a farm shop" , this article is then followed by a list of farm shops in the area, produce on sale at each shop, opening times and contact details along with photos of the shops. Living in Nyon can certainly recommend "Le Panier Gourmand" on this list. This farm shop can be found on the road heading north from Nyon (direction Signy centre).  See article here. There's another article in this section called " It's easy to organise a barbecue"  which goes on to list (and provide maps for), some of the free open air bbq spots in the area from Chéserex to Dully to the bbq area in the Nyon Boiron woodland. Schools Out/ Useful book to take "home". Local state schools break up for the summer holidays on Friday 6th July and return on Monday 27th August. Many private schools have already closed their doors until "la rentrée" -  this French expression means the return to school after the summer vacation. If you are an expatriate and heading off  "home" to another country for your summer holidays, then a reminder that the "Living along Lac Léman" book is a great little present packed to take to your friends and family back home. It's packed with photos and articles to show them what it is like to live in this part of the world. The book can either be ordered on line here or picked up in one of the many retail outlets in Nyon, Rolle, Geneva, and Lausanne details here. Note - it is also now on sale at the Musée du Léman in Nyon down by the lake side.

Workshops  for International Mums in Nyon Tuesday 1st March 13:30 - 15:00 The "Centered Mama Project"  is a workshop to help international mums feel more supported and learn ways to integrate and enjoy life here. These workshops are organised by founder Anne Ferguson who says: "I know first-hand how difficult it can be to carry everything - when you're far from home, career, loved ones and dear friends, it can quickly get overwhelming. You probably didn't sign up to be a stay-at-home mum, but you made a decision as a family and here you are. You're proud of how much you've settled here (even if only a little) but you'd like to integrate even more. How do you do that? Now that your kids, your partner and your home are sorted, what's next? Join me and other beautiful, talented mums to explore this question and more. I've welcomed PhD grads, managing directors, architects, teachers, chefs, estate agents, bankers, lawyers, social workers and more at recent Centered Mama Project workshops". Next two workshops Tuesday March 1st 13:30 - 15:00 held at Oak Hill School, 31 Chemin de Precossy in Nyon and Thursday March 3rd 9:00 - 10:30 Geneva (Champel) Places are limited, so please RSVP to thecenteredmamaproject@gmail.com, by SMS to 079 751 1496 or directly to the  Facebook page  to find out more details and venue. Pop Up Collective in Rolle of local Designers Local designers from Nyon and further afield have got together to display and sell their creations including handbags, jewellry,  cushions and candles in Rolle in a Pop Up Collective at the Ma Fille boutique at Grande Rue 33, in Rolle. Also, on Thursday the 3rd March there will be a chance to meet the designers from 17:00 to 22:00 at the store. Full details in poster below.

Thursday 14th April - Image consultant Beatrice Ségerre will share styling and "re-looking" tips at a pop up evening (with cocktail) in Rolle. Details in poster below.   There will be a book launch on Saturday April 16th from 15:00- 16:00 at the Temple in Prangins. The book "The Waldensian Story" tells the story of refugees who came to Prangins in 1689. Details in poster below.

Here's a quick round up of local news taken from La Côte newspaper plus events coming up in the region.  Drop in CGN passengers numbers due to poor summer weather CGN (Compagnie Générale de Navigation - the company that run the boats on Lac Léman) announced that due to the bad weather over the summer months, the company saw a drop in its passenger numbers of around 40,000. CGN hopes that the good weather in September will compensate for the lacklustre summer and numbers will increase during this time. However, the company did see a strong rise in passenger numbers on the Lausanne to Thonon route due to passengers travelling to France to shop to take advantage of the strong Swiss franc. Note: CGN switched to their autumn timetable on the 11th September.  See timetable here Buvette closed by beach The buvette of La Plage des Trois Jetées in Nyon closed unexpectedly on the 31st August due to various circumstances. However the voluntary Association of the Bains de Trois Jetées will be re open their small café and sauna in mid October. Check out the site of this association to keep up with their latest news.    Old building collapses in Coppet Residents living nearby and on Coppet's main high street, were woken up to a loud noise in the early hours of  Saturday  morning on 3rd September due to a large and ancient "grange" unexpectedly collapsing and falling into the street. Scattering stones and debris everywhere, the street became dangerous and impassable so it was then closed off  to the public by the police. Fireman from Nyon's fire brigade attended the scene along with search and rescue dogs to ensure there were no casualities due to the incident. Thankfully there weren't and the reason for the collapse of this old building which dated back to 1784, remains unclear.   New playground for children on the Rive There's a new play area for children down by the Rive in Nyon next to the Musée du Léman (photo in banner). This enlarged play area for children (open for children ages 2 to 10 years old under supervision), comes with bright blue equipment, slides, swings, climbing frames and synthetic grass. There are also benches in a shaded area for family picnics.   Nyon council have spent 270,000 francs in renovating this area. Note : Want to know more about child and parent related activities in the area? Check out the Moms in Vaud site or click on the Know it all Passport on the right hand side of this site. New Shopping Centre in La Gravette After many years of discussion and debate, the go ahead has now been given for Migros to construct a new shopping centre at La Gravette (where the Migros Brico Loisirs is situated). Plans for this centre include a supermarket of 1500m2,  an electronics store of 500m2, a restaurant and a new Brico Loisirs with garden centre. There will also be three commercial areas in the centre which will not be part of the Migros chain. The first phase of work is due to be finished by Autumn 2012. Events coming up Wine train this weekend.  On Saturday 17th September Morges's petit train will wind its way from the débarcadère (boat embarkation point) in Morges, up through the  pretty wine villages of La Côte. This is a great opportunity for passengers to take in the fabulous scenery and to visit various wine cellars such as Vufflens-le-Chateau among others.  For more information see here. Note: Nyon will have its own Fête de La Vigne on the 24th September, more information on this to follow. Circus in town .  The Knie circus is in the area and will be in Nyon from the 16th to 18th September. Debate on the future of L'Arc Lemanique at Globiunion. On the 30th September there will be a debate held at Globiunion in Nyon entitled "Croissance de L'arc lémanique - Chances and Risques".  As the arc of Lac Léman has seen rapid growth over the past few years with many multinational companies moving in to the area, the region and the local economy has been boosted by this growth. However this growth has brought challenges too in terms of infrastructure, housing, education and the integration of the new arrivals. The debate will discuss these challenges and it is open to everyone (registration required).  Speakers include Philip Jennings, Secretary General of the Global Union, both mayors from Copenhagen in Denmark and Utrecht in Holland  (they have been invited to recount experience of growth in their own cities). Other speakers include Jennifer Ackermann from UNIA, Frederique Reeb-Landry from Proctor and Gamble, Devendra Rana from WWF, Cyriaqu Sendashonga from IUCN and Francesco Della Casa Cantonal Architect from the Canton of Geneva. For more info see here

The small municipality of Bière just above Morges (population around 1,500), will be host to thousands of gymnasts from the 21-29 June for the annual cantonal gymnastic fête. If you are at all interested in gymnastics or have members of the family who are, then Bière is the place to be during this time. Full details  on the website here.  Photos - courtesy - ACVG

Paléo finished last night here in Nyon with a big firework display to end the 2011 edition.  This year, the festival hit the 5 million spectator mark since the festival began in 1976. Photo above - Joaquin Diaz in concert in the Dome tent . Audio report summing up festival You can hear a summing up of the six days of Paléo by the Living in Nyon editor on this audio report entitled " Paléo bands paid tribute to Amy Winehouse"  on World Radio Switzerland.  Click here. There will be more photos and commentary of the Paléo festival on this site every day this week, plus coming soon - an interview with a festival employee.   Event tomorrow night On Tuesday 26th July there will be another male trailing spouse event at Les Brasseurs Pub in Nyon at 20:00. This is a chance for male accompanying partners to meet and have a few beers together ( see previous report ). Note - the name of this group is under review,  the search is on for a more suitable title!  If you would like to attend this event, simply email cnp at bluewin.ch. Images of Paléo Below - the charismatic Lisa Kekauala, lead vocalist of the BellRays performing in the Club tent on Saturday night.  Below - Paléo fan (with dad) watching soul singer Selah Sue in the Chapiteau tent. Below - Romantic dancing to Chucho Valdés in the Dome tent. Below - The "flying camera" with its eye on the crowd.  Above - Shingai Shoniwa from the Noisettes performing in the Chapiteau on Saturday night Below - more young Paléo fans Below - Painting a frieze on a charity stand.   All photos - C. Nelson-Pollard

Here's a great little interview by Jonas with Chris Parson, the English translator at Paléo.  Read on to find out why he was given Neil Young's harmonica,  how Joe Cocker loves Shepherd's Pie (and hates broccoli!), what happened when Oasis played at the festival and how the Stranglers didn't like being served white wine out of small Swiss glasses! Chris Parson is the English translator for the Paléo festiva l in Nyon (which starts next  Tuesday the 23rd July and runs through to the 28th) It's thanks to him that you can read both the programme and the  Paléo website in English. Chris has been working at Paléo since 1988, when the festival used be at Colovray by the lakeside. Chris posing with Neil Young's harmonica and signed LP Chris was born in Dublin and raised in Preston, Lancashire. After studying philosophy and literature at Bristol, he did a degree in teaching and then went on to work in the civil service. He left his job (not long after Margaret Thatcher arrived on the scene) to go travelling in Asia, where he eventually met his Swiss wife, trekking in Nepal. A few years later, he moved to Switzerland. He now teaches Adult Education at Geneva University, in the Faculty of Psychology and Education. He is also the president of the association of L'Elastique Citrique, (note they are on tour next week read more here ). Chris is also involved in several local associations including the Usine à Gaz. He likes to cook, travel and listen to great musicians like Neil Young and Leonard Cohen.  (Full disclosure he also happens to be my dad!)  I met up with him to discuss his time working at Paléo. I first started in 1988. At the time the festival was still at Colovray. I was living in the same small apartment block as Jacques Monnier < > co-founder of the festival and head of programming>  and at the time I was giving English lessons to him and a few other friends from Paléo. Jacques asked me if I was interested in running the backstage hospitality area at the main stage, as he was looking for someone who could speak English and French and had some notions of diplomacy. I said: “Ok, why not”. Yeah, I hardly knew anything about the Festival, and I found myself in charge of the dressing room area, where all the big-name bands playing on the main stage were being looked after before and after their shows. I was told to read all the technical riders attached to the contracts they'd signed and make sure I delivered everything that was asked for by the artists. For instance, my first year   The Stranglers asked for two litres of fresh orange juice to be ready as they went on stage. I mistakenly provided orange juice from a bottle, only to find out that when the manager didn't have freshly squeezed orange juice in jugs he threatened to call off the concert. We had about half an hour to find some oranges on the festival site (at the end of July...), and squeeze enough out of them to fill the jugs. I suppose that was my baptism of fire (you might say baptism of orange juice!) I spent a long time reading the rider for Carlos Santana < > who will be playing this year at the festival>, he had apparently asked to be given food and drink every fifteen minutes. We prepared everything and approached him every quarter of an hour to offer him food, juice, fruit etc... Every time we offered him anything, he politely refused, saying he didn’t really need anything. He probably only drank a couple of glasses of water all evening. This was when I realised that a lot of the demands made on behalf of the artist were formulated by their management teams and didn't necessarily reflect the demands of the artists themselves. On the evening before the festival, we went out to eat '  with The Stranglers and their record company. Several members of the band were horrified to be given tiny little wine glasses in which to drink their white wine, they felt it was bad for their image, and asked for them to be replaced by beer glasses. They also asked for a rowing boat because they wanted to row across  lac léman! That was on my first year. Otherwise, I was also asked to give a massage to the female violin player of the Wooden Tops, she had overheard someone saying I was good with my hands < > chuckles>. I also remember when we hosted Julien Clerc at l'Asse (the Paléo grounds) in early '90s, his staff were very keen to have a bottle of "pastis" for their aperitif, but Julien Clerc forbade them to drink alcohol before the concert, so we had to procure a bottle of pastis on the side and serve them under the table... Perhaps the funniest incident involving alcohol, when the legendary guitarist BB King came to the festival, it was stipulated on his rider that a bottle of Cutty Sark whisky had to be placed on his dressing room table. This particular brand of whisky was not to be found in Switzerland, and we had to send a driver into France to find a bottle, which took him several hours to locate. As by now I was also acting as a translator for the festival, I was asked to serve as an interpreter for an interview with a regional newspaper. On entering BB King's dressing room, he asked me if I'd like a drink (this was after the concert). I noticed that the bottle of Cutty Sark was standing unopened on the dressing room table and asked him for a glass of whisky, so he opened the bottle and served me a glass! I am pretty sure he never touched a drop. One of the artists I've probably had the most to do with at Paléo is   Joe Cocker . His rider always starts with the  . There then followed a long list of things Joe can or cannot eat. In fact, Joe always eats the same thing: shepherd's pie. We were provided with the recipe each time, which required several dollops of HP sauce, something rather difficult to find in Switzerland at the time... All the kitchen staff involved in making the shepherd's pie would then come to his door and present it to him and ask him to autograph the recipe! We once had to provide a three-course dinner with silver cutlery for 75 musicians and technicians working with Paul Simon. The kitchens were a quarter of a mile away, at  , and we had to carry everything back to the main stage. During the meal, a stocky little man in a white T-shirt walked up to me and asked me for a piece of Gruyère, saying, in a rather surreptitious way, “ ”. I then realised that this was the great Paul Simon. For the past fifteen years or so, I have been translating the programme, the press pack for the press conference that takes place in April, and the Paléo website content into English. This means that from February onwards, I am one of the handful of people who knows the festival line-up, which is revealed to the public round about the end of April. During the Festival, I am also responsible for organising press conferences, and for providing an interpretation service for the media who wish to interview English speaking bands. I also have to deal with the record companies and the artists' managers. Probably the most notorious incident concerning the press, a band playing at Paléo and a record company was with Oasis. We knew the Gallagher brothers were in the middle of a bust-up and the band left the stage twice during the first half an hour of concert and never came back on, in front of a sold out crowd, claiming they had been pelted by coins and various other objects, including a urine-filled condom during one of their numbers. This was obviously an extremely sensitive situation, and the band demanded the British embassy in Bern provide them with an escort out of the festival. But the director of the festival, Daniel Rossellat, insisted that they should stay until the last member of the public had left the festival site after the last concert. Oasis who were one of the leading pop bands in the world at the time, were thus forced to stay until the early hours of the morning. A press conference was then held at 1.30 am, and before the Festival could give their version of the events, Oasis' record company rushed in, and read out and distributed a somewhat biased statement to all of the journalists there. I got to speak with a BBC world service correspondent, who was by chance on holiday in the area. When he heard the news, he hastily asked for an accreditation to the festival and asked me for my version of the events. As the English interpreter, I was faced the next morning with calls from breakfast TV shows and different English media who wanted to know what had happened. My nephew, who was having breakfast in the UK, suddenly heard my name as the official spokesperson for Paléo on Breakfast TV as he was having his breakfast! I think we made the front page of the Daily Mirror and the Sun. Yes, for me Neil Young is certainly one of the greatest folk-rock musicians of the last forty years. In 1993, the night before my 40 th  birthday, Neil Young played on the main stage. At the end of the concert, as the clock struck midnight, my colleagues in the backstage area cracked open a few bottles of champagne and started singing "Happy Birthday". It was the 22 nd  of July, and my 40 th  birthday. The tour manager hearing the singing and asked whose birthday it was, and when pointed in my direction, came up to me, handed me the harmonica Neil Young had played with that night, and wished me a Happy Birthday! I had also given him an album (Young’s first solo LP) to autograph, although he had told me that Neil Young never signed anything. I got it back duly autographed. Perhaps what impressed me the most was that he always toured with one of his very handicapped sons, who watched the show in a wheelchair in the wings. When it was time to go, I was asked to give a hand carrying his son to the car that was waiting to drive them back to the hotel, and found myself carrying the boy with his father, Neil Young himself. A great musician and a good guy. I am obviously looking forward to seeing him again this year…he will be playing the day after my 60 th  birthday this time, so I’d better polish up the harmonica! All photos- Courtesy Jonas Parson

The full programme of films  and events for Visions du Réel,  the big documentary film festival due to take place from the 15-23rd April in both Nyon and Gland, is now out. From Michael Moore to Princess Shaw  There are lots of highlights on the the agenda, from a fun "avant-première" film called "Jesus Town USA", to the screening of the new Michael Moore film "Where to Invade Next" (see trailer below), to the film "Presenting Princess Shaw "which has been called "An essential tale for the the digital age" (trailer below) which will be screened in Gland. There will also be a special evening with British film director Peter Greenaway. There is plenty more on the agenda, some new initiatives this year and we'll be highlighting them here on Living in Nyon over the next few weeks. In the meantime, a Happy Easter to all readers! Check out all the decorated fountains around Nyon, an annual tradition in the town. Note - there still will be the monthly flea market in Nyon on Easter Sunday the 27th March. For English speaking church services over the Easter period see La Côte church in Gingins or Westlake church in Nyon

There was a brief respite from the downpours yesterday. Enough to get a glimpse of the UBS arena being built down on the lake side. There will be 1,900 places (non seated) free of charge and 1,200 paid seats to enable fans to watch the matches. The arena will open two hours before the first match and one hour after the last match, there will be more than one match played on the same night in the two host countries. There is a special website for more info on Euro 2008 events in Vaud. The lake road will be closed at certain times during the three weeks so allow extra time (if you'll excuse the pun) to arrive at your destination Meanwhile normal Nyon life went ahead with the Tuesday weekly sailing regatta. And of course, neither rain or football stops when there's a garden to be tended. A break in the rain meant that the vegetables could be dug up in this Nyon garden.