Michel Bonnemaison arranged to use excerpts from Jean-Phillip Rameau's opera Indes Galantes, being performed for the first time in two hundred years, mixed with sounds gathered by Joëlle de la Casiniere and illustrated with Andean landscapes by Bruce Williams and cityscapes from Costa Rica by Carlos Ferrand, edited together in Montreal by Bruce and Joelle and printed up in the Rank Laboratories in England.

Filming in Parque Puracé southeast of Popayan was quite magical. The lower reaches were tropical forest, and the higher altitudes were often above the clouds. Soroche country. Sulpher springs had their own unique palette, one that the color correctors at Rank never got quite right.

Cine Central in San José, Costa Rica, provides an "Otro Gran Exito," documentation of rich street life and more hints of Hollywood Westerns. If the footage was filmed by Carlos, I suspect Michel was looking over his shoulder, whispering "now" and "cut." The urban footage was filmed on an Arriflex, "No trouble with Arri," while the landscapes were filmed on my under-engineered Eclair ACL, which was later stollen in Cali. The thieves ended up with one bum 400 foot magazine and one good one. Unfortunately, they also got a beautiful 9.5-57 Angenieux lens.

One never knew when Joëlle was recording sound. She would hook a microphone over her right ear and thread its wire into a Nagra SN in the front pocket of her boubou. It was a natural move to turn the recorder on, less than scratching her stomach.

Password Indes