Under the Sun – Review by Suzy Nelson-Pollard This film will be shown on Wednesday the 20th of April, at 20.00 at the Grand Champ theatre in Gland. Tickets can be bought here If it wasn’t a reality for the millions of people living in North Korea, Under the Sun could almost be a sci-fi film. Russian director, Vitaly Mansky, received permission to film a “normal family” in their everyday lives in North Korea. Each scene was carefully staged and rehearsed and re-rehearsed, each time with “more happiness and patriotism”. Yet due to the lack of technical know-how of the Koreans, Mansky managed to keep filming during the staging of each scene, and smuggle the footage out of the country. Photo above - courtesy Visions du Réel The results are impressive, funny at first sight, yet sobering and tragic as the film goes on. School lessons, work, free time, childhood and adulthood, every moment is devoted to praise to the Supreme Leader. Scenes of people commuting to work and children travelling to school are astounding, as nobody talks to each other, nobody smiles, laughs, and the faces that pass across the camera are desolate, fatigued, cold and desperate. As the young child of the family realizes how growing up comes with more responsibility and will require serving the Supreme Leader as best she can, tears stream down her face. Her mother tells her to think of something happy, and when she can’t summon such a thought, she recites a poem declaring her faithfulness to the Leader. There is nothing else that she can rejoice for. While staged photos of beautiful parades, as well as horrific human rights reports, are usually the only sources to understand North Korea, “Under the Sun” is an astounding record of the country. Demonstrating the extent of the repression, the brainwashing, the fear and the control placed on the inhabitants of this small northern country, the documentary is also beautifully filmed. It should not be missed. See trailer below.

Around a hundred wine cellars between Nyon and Morges will be open this weekend, Saturday the 14th and Sunday the 15th of May. This is a great opportunity to discover and taste the local wines of the region. For just CHF 20, you can visit the local wine cellars, taste wine and also use the free shuttle buses that will be in operation between Morges, Rolle and Gland railway stations. There will also be winemakers at the château of Nyon during the weekend. For more details, click link here.

There have been some spectacular photographs of the earth posted on the internet which have been taken by Tim Peake, the British astronaut currently working at the International Space Station. One of his Facebook posts from May may interest Living in Nyon readers as it shows a clear and wonderful overhead view of Lac Léman, the Alps, the Salève, including Nyon, Morges and other lakeside towns. There is still a lot of snow on the mountains! Photo - Copyright Tim Peake. You can see many other of Tim Peake's photos as he orbits the earth on Flickr here

"Trading Paradise" - next screening Sunday 17 April 20:15 at the Théatre de Grand Champ in Gland. Tickets here There was a packed theatre in Nyon on Saturday afternoon to watch the world premiere of "Trading Paradise", a film that took the director Daniel Schweizer over three years to make. The film focusses on the practices of two high-profile commodity trading companies that are based in Switzerland. One of them, Vale based in St-Prex a town a few miles from Nyon and the other, Glencore situated in Zug. Glencore one of the world's largest traders of raw materials, controls 40% of world copper production, dominates the African oil industry and also trades in coffees and cereals. The director travels to Peru to find out how Glencore operate in the field. He films communities that live alongside one of Glencore's mines, he interviews Ivan Glasenberg the head of Glencore, he shows how the company works and how NGOs are trying to improve the transparency and liability of these commodities giants. We see the contrast of the glitz and elegance inside the Beau Rivage palace in Lausanne as the FT Commodities Global Summit takes place, to outside in the street with armed police in riot gear amongst a group of demonstrators. The director then heads off to Brazil to find out about the activities of Vale. He also films Joseph Stiglitz (Nobel prize winner in Economic sciences) speaking at the Public Eye awards. These awards are given out to the world's worst companies in corporate irresponsibility. (Vale was given this award in 2012). The film asks if trading companies can continue operating in the same way in Switzerland. Swiss politician Dick Marty and former state prosecutor to the Ticino, thinks not. He says; "The risk to Switzerland's reputation seems obvious to me. I think we are siting on a case of dynamite and I don't know when it's going to explode. This is all similar to the UBS case, Swissair and banking secrecy. There were warning signs with all of these problems. They were ignored".

Another busy weekend in the Nyon region with events happening for all ages in 4 different local castles! (Nyon, Prangins, Chillon and Coppet). From garden parties to raclette à gogo, Shakespearean plays and Roman days. Roman Day in Nyon Nyon will be celebrating its Roman heritage on Saturday 11th June as the Roman Museum of Nyon has organised a day of Roman activities and a chance to step back into Roman times. Between 10:00 and 20:00 there will be fighting gladiators, actors, story telling and patrolling legionaries! You will be able to discover different aspects of Roman crafts, taste Roman food, play like the Romans and follow a discovery trail of the remains of Noviodunum. It all takes place both at the Esplannade des Marroniers (where the Roman columns are situated) and at the Roman museum. See full programme here "The Tempest" by William Shakespeare will be performed in English in the open air in the courtyard of the Château of Prangins on Friday 10th and Saturday the 11th of June as part of the ADG Europe castle tour. There will also be a performance in the Château of Chillon on the 9th June. Tickets here Raclette evening On Friday 10th of June, over at the Château of Nyon, there will be "Raclette à Gogo" (as much raclette as you can eat!) including a board of charcuterie, fruit salad, coffee for just CHF 35 Doors open at 17:00. Reservations recommended emailinfo@caveaudenyon.ch Jazz in the old town Later on, also on Friday 10th in the old town of Nyon there will be jazz at the 1306 Club from 20:30 onwards. Free entry, hat passed round for the artists. Garden Party On Sunday 12th June there will an English style Garden Party at the Château of Coppet from 14:00 to 18:00. Live music, arts and crafts, strawberries and cream refreshment and Pimms. Tombola, Best Hat competition, silent auction. This event is organised by the Make a Wish Switzerland foundation.

After two days of very hot weather, Thursday was a bit cooler, and rain threatened during the evening. But the combined efforts of the bands playing that night and the enthusiastic crowd kept the worst at bay, and after a bit of rain in the early evening, the sun came back out to shine on the 45000 heads gathered at l'Asse. The weather made it a lot more bearable, the rain stopping the dust from rising up in the air. A long way from Wednesday's heavy metal, Thursday was definitely calmer, the evening kicking off with two reggae concerts. A regular at Paléo, Tiken Jah Fakoly played his politically charged albeit slightly repetitive music to a good crowd in front of the main stage. Clad in his traditional garb and sporting a long staff, he sang of peace, love and the colonial ravages of Africa. He finished off with a slightly cliché cover of Bob Marley's "Get up Stand up ". Photos above - C. Nelson-Pollard The highlight of the evening was Sharon Shannon's amazing accordion skills. I grew up listening to her music, so when she was announced at Paléo, I was really excited! The result was an evening where reality exceeded my expectations! Although her actual concert was later on under the Dôme, she was scheduled to play a more intimate set on the small stage of the “Tour Vagabonde”, the replica of the Globe theatre set up in the middle of the Village du Monde. It is not only a good place to get a beer and escape from the sun (or the rain, depending), but also hosts small 20 minute sets of bands playing during the evening at the Dôme.(Find the program here)It's a perfect way to rediscover a band in a more intimate setting, or to get a second chance to see a band you missed because you were eating a waffle on the other side of the festival, or trying to watch three other concerts at the same time! Sharon Shannon was absolutely amazing, and came on stage with the widest smile ever, greeting everyone in her fast and high-pitched Irish accent. Enchanting the crowd gathered in front of the stage and at the railing in the galleries with her agile accordion skills, she kept smiling in the most amazing way to every body. In this magical wooden setting, she looked elf-like with her wide grin and white dress. She seemed absolutely delighted by the venue, and would obviously have kept playing for more than twenty minutes, if she'd been allowed to. Short video below. Bursting with joy and wonder She was on stage later on with a whole band, and it was hard to decide who was having the most fun, the crowd dancing to her enchanting reels or her watching the crowd and obviously loving every moment of it. Someone had brought along a large number of coloured balloons and the kept bouncing up over the crowd. It made for a very nice scene, but was slightly more annoying when quite a few of them started bursting with quite a loud bang! Her only reaction to that, was a genial “oh, those balloons sound quite like fireworks don't they?”. “It's been great playing at this amazing festival! I've never seen anything like it before!” she exclaimed towards the end of the concert, before adding “its been great, yuhoo!” Her presence and boundless enthusiasm were very refreshing. Such a generous person, she seemed to have the utmost pleasure being here, and kept clapping along and making huge grins and thumbs up during the great solo by the guitar/keyboard player, getting her kicks from the reaction of the crowd to some parts of the solo. A heart-warming concert that did a lot of good to everyone's ears and soul. Dancing at a 40 person party during Massive Attack Ditching the massive crowd ready to listen to Massive Attack, the band who created trip-hop, I ended up at la Ruche where Vladimir Spoutnik was playing. This wacky DJ played some great and slightly cheesy music to dance to, halfway between a DJ set and a theatre show, often coming out into the crowd to make people dance, while his very serious security man tried to keep a straight face on the side of the stage, even when showered with confetti. Wearing a shirt several sizes too short and hair plastered back on his head, with a smoke machine decorated like a rocket and “A trip to the moon” by George Melies projected on a screen behind him, Vladimir Spoutnik created an engaging and rustic atmosphere. Kids and adults of all ages enjoyed his show, and the intimate and magic setting of the Ruche, while 40000 people were dancing to Massive Attack in front of the main stage. It's part of the magic of Paléo to create the possibility to go from one to another so easily, giving everyone what they're looking for. Vladimir Spoutnik performs every night at the Ruche, mostly during the last concert on the main stage.

Heritage vegetables, bio products, chickens and cheese at a bio farm near Nyon For those readers who like to source bio (organic) products and to buy their food from a local grower, La Ferme des Pralies (tucked away in the hamlet of Arnex), is well worth a visit. This bio-garden and farm shop not only sells fresh local, seasonal produce, but also an array of artisan condiments and drink products, which are sourced from other local farms. Writer Trish Thalman went along to the farm to meet owner, and former chef, Gabriella Salvadori who in 2007 began growing top-quality, bio heritage European vegetables, along with a variety of seeds of heritage plants that she has collected during her travels around the world. Photo above - Gabriella Salvadori owner of La Ferme des Pralies Savoury Herbs - Thai Basilic and Shiso Gabriella offers a variety of fresh, colourful vegetables and fruits for sale year around. Greens, onions and herbs, roquette, lettuce and new-season cabbage are currently on sale, whilst aubergines, peppers and herbs will be available in July. The specialities of the farm include exotic tomatoes, aubergines, peppers and savoury herbs such as Thai Basilic and Shiso (Japanese wild basil). These are produced in eco-friendly 'plant tunnels'. Most of the produce is locally grown, such as the sweet, perfectly beautiful, 'real' flavoured strawberries. Contented Chickens Fresh eggs (with orange yolks!) are delivered by the brood of contented bio-chickens (cackling away next to the farm shop). There are also speciality breads from an artisan-boulanger in Geneva, goat's cheese from a nearby farm and other 'products-of-the-day' sourced by Gabriella knowing that her customers always enjoy trying something new from the shop. Check out: the strawberry gelée infused with Tasmanian pepper, a delicious, unique taste; the Pesto made of 'Bear Garlic' (l'ail des ours) which is beyond any taste sensation you find in a supermarket jar of pesto; or a jar of preserved Botzi heritage pears, known in Canton Fribourg, which are delicious with fresh ice cream – or eaten as they are. Some of the farm's customers include local restaurants who appreciate the quality and diversity of the products from the bio-farm itself and those of Gabriella's local suppliers. All of the products bearing the label 'La Ferme des Pralies' are prepared and hand processed by Gabriella in her kitchen attached to the farm shop. The long term plans for the farm are to continue to provide quality products, diversification with plant breeding, supplying restaurants with quality foods, to promote Gabriella's own catering skills using the fresh produce, promoting 'event days' introducing different foods and condiments, to continue producing wholesome eggs from contented chickens and most importantly, promoting local products of her like-minded, partner. The www.lafermedespralies.ch website in French, is easily understandable, with photos and prices of produce on sale and upcoming events at the farm (for example there was a tomato plant sale in May). There are also heritage recipes from Gabriella's own collection, using the produce and condiments from her shop. How to get to the farm shop The farm shop is 5 minutes from Nyon in Arnex, just off the main road between Nyon and Crassier. Look for the direction signs at the roundabout when approaching Borex from Nyon. Check out their Facebook page.Open: Friday: 14:00 to 20:00 Saturday: 09:00 to 18.00

The sun shone and the grounds were hot on the first night of Paléo. Here are a few images from Tuesday night - review to follow. Above and below - Street artists entertaining the first night crowd Cooling off by the water at the Village du Monde Courtney Bartnett in concert on Les Arches stage Mont Blanc et balloons Anach Cuan playing in the Village du Monde "pub" venue Above and below - The Lumineers in concert on the big stage

There are various venues in the La Côte region where football enthusiasts can watch the Euro 2016 Championships with other members of the public. The biggest Fan Zone is at the Emil Frey garage at Route de Champ-Colin 1, in Nyon. This zone has two big screens, food and drink stands at the venue. Also in Nyon is the Bar Lounge La Jetée at the Place de la Grande Jetée with a big outside screen (unless it is raining) There are also exterior screens at the following restaurants, bars and hotels. Café des Moulins - Ruelle des Moulins in Nyon Pub de la Gare - Place de la Gare 1, Nyon Fisherman's Pub - Rue de Rive 37, Nyon Interior screens at the Le Débarcadère restaurant Rue de Rive 34 and the Mumbai Bar at Place du Marché in Nyon. Other venues outside Nyon Screen plus bbq - La Barcarolle hotel - Route de Promenthoux 8, Prangins. Exterior screen and bar at the La Copétane Grand Rue 30, Coppet. Big indoor screen at Les Cystises - Rue de la Gare 2, St-Cergue.

The free open-air jazz concerts in Nyon begin on Friday 1st of July 2016 and continue through the summer until the 16 August. These concerts take place at three different venues on different dates in the town: at the O' Les Terrasses on the lake side, near the Maître Jacques statue, and at the Place de Savoie See the programme for July, here and August here. The two videos below are a taster of a couple of the groups who will be performing at these concerts, from the "Gypsy Jazz" of Tcha-Badjo (playing on Saturday 9th July at 19:30), to the swing of Lost in Swing playing on Thursday 14th July at 19:15.

Nyon tourist office will be screening the England versus Wales, and Northern Ireland versus Ukraine European championship football matches on Thursday 16th June at 15:00 and 18:00 respectively. Members of the public are invited to watch. There will be benches to sit and watch the game and drinks provided too!

The Golden bar, the Golden rule of Paléo and Announcing the artists on the big stage Paléo starts today the 19th of July. This will be the 41st festival. It began as a small folk event in Nyon's community hall back in 1976 and has since evolved into one of Europe's biggest music festivals. Part of the whole Paléo experience is when Mik Clavet runs on to the main stage with his long hair flowing, and microphone in hand to announce and welcome the next performance. Living in Nyon went to chat to the man who is often nicknamed "Mr Paléo" and who has been announcing the bands for 14 years, to find out more about the man behind the mike. Mik, originally from Québec, was about to embark on a European tour when a chance meeting with a friend of Daniel Rossellat altered his course. The friend told him about a festival in Nyon that maybe he could help out at with some volunteering or work. So Mik took up the suggestion and arrived in Nyon in November 1990. Like many new arrivals in Switzerland, Mik went through "sticker shock"; when he saw the prices, he even sent a supermarket receipt back to his mother in Canada, to show her how expensive things were. And there was a bit of culture shock too - although Mik already spoke French, he quickly had to learn new phrases and words that were completely unknown to him in his native French Canadian. "I also felt like I was in a permanent theatre here in Switzerland, I was surrounded by different accents, different nationalities, I was walking past Roman buildings and friends of mine were living in houses that dated back to the 16th century. I then realised what a young country Canada is, compared to here." Stages built by volunteers in early days Yet Mik quickly succumbed to the charms of Nyon and surrounding area and began volunteering at Paléo. As Mik can turn his hands to most things, he began helping with the infrastructure of the stages. "At that time all the stages were built by volunteers. Things have moved on since then, concerts are bigger, stages are bigger, there's a lot more technical stuff involved so it was inevitable that there would be a time when the professional companies needed to take over. Now teams are brought over from Germany to do this task". However each stage still has its own behind-the-scenes volunteers teams that run the day-to-day operations. "As you work on everything together late into the night, you almost become like family during the Paléo period. So much so, you want to work with the same team the following year which is what I did. I worked in the Dome area for many years starting as the speaker/announcer and ended up becoming the stage manager. I loved it. Then, one year, I was ask to be the announcer on the big stage, I wasn't that keen as it would be hard to quit the Dome "family" but at the same time, I knew it would give me the opportunity to experience something else. Although, I knew I would then have to introduce the really big bands. I was used to working behind the scenes most of the time, so if I accepted, it would mean I would definitely be plunged into the lime-light. Moving to the Grand Scène "On the other hand I knew it was a privilege to be asked. It was a promotion. So I agreed to move and work on the big stage and announce the bands that appeared each night. I was nervous the first time I did this and I have to say my heart still skips a beat before I do it today - when you walk on the stage in front of 40,000 people, it's exhilarating but nerve wracking! However I make sure I just do my job and leave the artist/s to get the biggest roar. I only take around 20 seconds to make my announcement, I don't need to elaborate, the fans know everything, there's no point on telling them that the artist has sold millions of albums etc, they know this sort of stuff already. I make the announcement with pride, and it's a brilliant moment for me when I do, it's like lighting a match, the fire has started on what we all hope is going to be a great concert and great night. The Stromae Concert "Even for those short 20 seconds of announcing, there is still quite a bit of preparation involved. We have to test the microphone and deal with the artist's management to see if they even want to be announced on to the stage, some say no, some are happy for me to go ahead, some say yes and then change their mind 5 minutes before. This happened with the Stromae concert. This concert was one of the biggest Paléo had ever seen, the place was completely packed, the level of anticipation in the crowd was enormous. So, although I couldn't announce the man himself, I did walk on stage with a suitcase pretending to be lost, I turned to the crowd and said "I'm looking for Mr Stromae. Have you seen him?" You can imagine, the roar that followed that, was deafening. Primary duty of of the stage announcer "On a more serious note the primary duty of the announcer is not really to announce the bands: It's vitally important for someone to be there to transmit, serious and clear messages out to the Paléo grounds. These messages can help with crowd control. For example, we ask fans to stagger their departure after a concert so not everyone is heading for the exit at the same time, or in cases when the weather can affect the festival, such as during a bad heatwave a few years ago when we kept reminding everyone to keep drinking water and stay hydrated. Crowd Control "Behind the scenes there's a whole team of people, and cameras keeping an eye out on the flow and movement of the crowd, we are constantly looking at it for safety reasons. There is a grid printed out at each festival for those involved to indicate concerts that might be tricky for security reasons or those that are predicted to attract big or certain kinds of fans. These concerts are graded into various colours, red, orange etc according to the security level. The set at the Ramstein concert involved fireworks, so we had to be ultra vigilant for that one. Regarding security, Paléo hasn't sat on its laurels over the years - it has a relaxed atmosphere but it is constantly reviewing security issues, so much so, other festival organisers from other countries come to Paléo to see how security is handled. "As to the artist themselves, they're all different, some artists come and say hello and kick around the backstage, some just stay in the dressing rooms until it's time to perform, I have met some really interesting singers and bands over the years, so it's difficult to favour some over others. Seasick Steve was just a delight to work with, as was Ben Harper and many other artists, too many to mention. The team that operate the Grande Scène have their own little community behind the scenes, we're called the "Golden Team", and we even have our own bar called... of course the "Golden Bar". Sometimes the artists come and join us in the bar after the concert. Mik's Golden Rule for Paléo "I also have my own golden rule at Paléo. Don't arrange to meet up with people at the festival itself, it never really works, either one of you has discovered a great artist and is listening to them at the appointed hour and they don't want to break off to leave, or one of you is at the opposite end of the grounds so can take 20 minutes to arrive. Or as often happens, you never find each other and spend ages calling or sending messages on your phone trying to contact them, or finally, it can happen that you bump into friends who ask you to join them, but you can't because you have a prearranged meeting with someone else. Keep things simple and spontaneous. "I will be announcing the bands again this year, but I am not sure how long I will continue to do this. I don't want to overstay my welcome, it may be time to hand over the mike to someone else at some point. Since I started with Paléo I have also worked with the infrastructure at Caribana and Visions du Réel. I take two weeks off to volunteer at Paléo and then after the festival I take three weeks off for a holiday in Québec. "However, I will definitely be staying around in Nyon, as I am Nyonnais by adoption now. I am Vaudois - I have a son here at school and I feel very much part of the community. Because most people that work at Paléo are volunteers, you can forget they have day jobs too, and you don't always know what these are. I was once having a beer with another volunteer behind the scenes at Paléo and then a few months later went to the doctor about something and realised that same volunteer was also my doctor! If I am wandering round the Saturday market in Nyon I end up chatting to a lot of people in this town - it's all due to Paléo and to working at these great festivals". The gates open today at the 19th July. See line up here and look out for Mik on stage!