France

Cannes is the home of many festivals through the year, this time around Cannes will welcome the Festival de l’Art Russe from the 23rd to the 27th of August. 

For this 2019 edition of the Festival de l’Art Russe, Cannes will welcome a wide range of different artists in an eclectic program that perfectly depicts the evolution of art and craft in Russia. While introducing new and emerging artists, the Festival will also give people a glimpse into Russian culture and folklore through various events. Indeed, the Festival will bring people closer to the famous, endearing but complex “Russian soul”. 

Throughout the whole Festival, “Les 100 ans de l’Institut national de la cinématographie S.A. Guerassimov (VGIK)” will be showcased in the Palais des Festivals. The exhibition is composed of costumes, photos, paintings, independent films extracted from one of the oldest cinema schools in the world. In fact, the Moscow based school was opened in 1919 by Vladirmir Gardine. The school was owned by the former USSR and in 1986 it took the name of the famous actor and director Sergueï Guerassimov. This international school trained and influenced many of the great Russian directors such as Alexandre Sokourov, Andreï Tarkovski or Nikita Mikhlalkov.    

On the 26th of August, the Palais des Festivals pays tribute to Russian great cinema masters, as well as young talents and award winners from VGIK. Among the screenings are seven short movies, an animated film from Stanislas Sokolov and a feature film from Boris Okopov. A series of concerts are also taking place at 8 pm each day during the Festival, with artists from the Gnessime Academy, in collaboration with Cannes Conservatoire. The Ingouche Ballet will perform on the 23rd of August at the Palais des Festivals. This ballet will highlight traditional and antique dances from the Ingouche, a people who lived in the northern part of the Caucase, between northern Ossetia and Chechnya. Other nights will show Russian performers from Ballet to concerts and the Bal des fous or Bal du Cosmos, an event organised by the city of Cannes on the 25th of August.

– Alexa Bouhelier-Ruelle

From 7 – 8 September, the first edition of the Challenge des ports de la Baie de Gou Jouan will welcome boaters from the six ports around the Bay of Gou Jouan.

Organised by the Vieux Port of Golfe-Juan, with the initiative of the Nautical Club and the Fishermen boaters association of Golfe-Juan along with the support of more than twenty partners, the boating challenge event will gather owners of small boats around friendly activities and fishing challenges across the different ports of the Bay of Gou Juan. These include the Port of Moure Rouge, the Vieux Port de Golfe-Juan, Port Camille Rayon, Port Gallice, Port du Crouton and Port de l’Olivette.  

Activities will begin the morning of 7 September with a race that will allow boaters to sail at the helm of their own boat. Later in the afternoon, this contest will be followed by a parade and a cocktail gathering for all competitors will be held on the dock of Port Camille Rayon. The next day, (8 September) a fishing challenge will give competitors of six different ports the opportunity to get together for a unique challenge but also for a good cause. The winner will be named after the fishes will be weighed-in, on a barge, in front of the Vieux-Port of Golfe-Juan. Then, all the fish will be taken by the Prud’homie and sold to the benefit of the SNSM. The morning events will end with the presentation of awards. A nice buffet will gather all competitors to close this first edition of the 2019 Challenge des ports de la Baie de Gou Jouan.  

All boaters that wish to take part in the competition will have to apply through their home port (5 euros fee).

– Alexa Bouhelier-Ruelle

From 7 – 8 September, the first edition of the Challenge des ports de la Baie de Gou Jouan will welcome boaters from the six ports around the Bay of Gou Jouan.

Organised by the Vieux Port of Golfe-Juan, with the initiative of the Nautical Club and the Fishermen boaters association of Golfe-Juan along with the support of more than twenty partners, the boating challenge event will gather owners of small boats around friendly activities and fishing challenges across the different ports of the Bay of Gou Juan. These include the Port of Moure Rouge, the Vieux Port de Golfe-Juan, Port Camille Rayon, Port Gallice, Port du Crouton and Port de l’Olivette.  

Activities will begin the morning of 7 September with a race that will allow boaters to sail at the helm of their own boat. Later in the afternoon, this contest will be followed by a parade and a cocktail gathering for all competitors will be held on the dock of Port Camille Rayon. The next day, (8 September) a fishing challenge will give competitors of six different ports the opportunity to get together for a unique challenge but also for a good cause. The winner will be named after the fishes will be weighed-in, on a barge, in front of the Vieux-Port of Golfe-Juan. Then, all the fish will be taken by the Prud’homie and sold to the benefit of the SNSM. The morning events will end with the presentation of awards. A nice buffet will gather all competitors to close this first edition of the 2019 Challenge des ports de la Baie de Gou Jouan.  

All boaters that wish to take part in the competition will have to apply through their home port (5 euros fee).

– Alexa 

The Swedish teenager known for calling out the leaders of the world for their complete lack of action on climate change has just teamed up with Monaco’s favourite blueblood, Pierre Casiraghi. Together with her father and Nathan Grossman, they have set sail across the Atlantic Ocean in a solar-powered sailboat, heading to the  UN World Summit in September. Setting a precedent for those who arrive to a climate summit by airplane, Greta Thunberg started a two-week journey to New York. Instead of taking a plane to the Big Apple, she is sailing across the with her father, Nathan Grossman and Pierre Casiraghi, as she will attend a UN World Climate Action Summit

Greta Thunberg has quickly become the face of the fight against climate change. She embarked for New York on Wednesday 14 August aboard a zero carbon racing sailboat, with Pierre Casiraghi as the skipper. The two-week journey will take them to the UN World Climate Action Summit. The 16-year-old created a worldwide movement originating from students striking against climate change. She refused to take a flight to the summit, because of the plane’s carbon emissions. Pierre Casiraghi, Princess Caroline’s son, offered a sailboat for Greta Thunberg to journey across 3,000 nautical miles, so she can speak at the UN Summit. 

In the United States, “a lot of people don’t understand or acknowledge science”, she declared before setting sailing, Agence France-Presse reported. “I will do what I’ve always done: ignore those people and state what science says. I intended to create a worldwide opinion movement, so people can gather and convey a message to their leaders around the world.” 

The Malizia II is a 18-meter sailboat with Casiraghi and Boris Herrman as skippers. The boat is equipped with solar panels and underwater turbines that generates electricity supplying the navigations instruments, auto pilot, watermaker, and a lab to test CO2 levels in the ocean along the way. The only CO2 source on board is a little gas stove to heat up water in order to cook vegan dried food. The boat left Plymouth last Wednesday, where Greta Thunberg suffered motion sickness when leaving the port, but she declared not being afraid of the journey ahead of her. The young girl is grateful to cross the Atlantic for free as she carries on her fight against climate change and convey an ever-important message around the world: to take care of our planet.

– Alexa Bouhelier-Ruelle

The city of Nice is determined to stop plastic pollution in the Baie des Anges. Nice Côte d’Azur metropolis has vowed to strengthen its fight against all plastics dumping in the Mediterranean. This ban will be implemented through the signature of a Charter of Commitment as part of Nice’s collaboration with WWF France. This partnership will spread over three years, from the official signature on the 13th of August, when the “Blue Panda” sailboat anchors in Nice’s port. 

Christian Estrosi, Mayor of Nice and president Alpes-Maritime region, helms this partnership with WWF France, as a promise that the city will commit to going further than the few actions already implemented today in Nice. A detailed and thorough diagnostic will be set up to find the origin of the plastic pollution in the metropolis. Then, a ban on plastic products will be implemented as well, in order to decrease people’s plastic consumption, promote alternatives and reusable materials as well as reprocessing plastic material that cannot be avoided. Indeed, according to different studies, 600.000 tons of plastics are discharged in the Mediterranean each year. Mayor Estrosi also wishes to get to a “Zero waste” plan by 2025. Everyone in the city will be mobilized and asked to take part in this ambitious project: the city’s public services, businesses, companies, restaurants and most importantly, citizens on a day to day basis – no one will be left out. 

From July to November, the “Blue Panda” traverses the Mediterranean’s coast to raise awareness and mobilize the population of the biggest cities on the French Riviera against the catastrophic problem of plastic pollution. The sailboat is a sort of ‘floating museum’ and education centre that is open to the public and can be boarded while in the port (until 16 August). Make sure to take the kids so they can see first-hand the effects of our current disposable lifestyle. Education will come through different events and activities organized by WWF France along the boat’s journey. According to the environmental NGO, it is possible to achieve a world without any plastic products and waste by 2030, notably through the implementation of an international treaty used as a binding instrument. 

What are you doing to reduce your plastic consumption? 

– Alexa Bouhelier-Ruelle