July 1999

Hello everyone,

Last month a friend wished me "Bon voyage, belles images (beautiful pictures)" on the islands of Hawaii: these words summed up those last weeks of filming rather well, unforgettable trips combined with wonderful pictures!

Let me tell you that we didn't just sit around idly since last May when I began shooting the film about the Mediterranean islands: one week on the Balearic islands, on a little sail boat, a monohull, just long enough to see the pretty harbours of Espalmador once more, the fields of Ibiza, the enchanting village of Deia on Majorca, as well as the Carthusian monastery of Valldemosa, where Chopin and George Sand hid away; then to fall in love with the pretty town of Ciudadela, and those beautiful turquoise coves of Minorca.

Then, in Calvi, I boarded a little power catamaran! Indeed I rate sail boats above anything else, but I've got quite a few friends who simply enjoy going from one place to another : a comfortable catamaran, if you choose to sail it at low speed, allows a long range, and it was an experience I wanted to try, all the more so since, in the Mediterranean, sails often aren't really reliable if your schedule is precise and busy, which was my case. Just imagine! More than a thousand miles, from Corsica to the Italian islands, to Sicily and Greece: Thus, I was able to visit for you such legendary islands as Monte Cristo or Stromboli; a few little dream-like spots (providing one avoids the tourist season), such as Capri and Corfu; some islands rich with history and culture: Delos and Santorini in the Cyclades, the ruins of Knossos in Crete; don't ask me which was my favourite island, they all had something captivating.

Then, to enjoy again for a while tropical sweetness, I went to the Hawaiian islands, which we filmed from on high in a little single-engine plane, astounded by the incredible cliffs of Hawai'i "the Big Island", those of Moloka'i (the highest marine cliffs in the world) or an enormous natural sculpture on Kaua'i, valleys, crazy peaks and a fantastic canyon of striking red. We landed in Maui, where whalers often confronted missionaries in olden days; on to the Big Island to wonder at the huge volcanic craters and film the place where a stream of lava reaches the sea, sending a glistening column of steam into the sky. On to arid Lanai island, where, however, two incredibly luxurious hotels have been erected. I actually did, as in the theme song of the series "Once upon an island", Voleur d'images (thief of images), "walked all alone in the garden of the Gods " In Molokai, I was stunned by the beauty of the Kalaupapa cliffs, where the lepers of Hawaii were banished in olden days; in Kauai, I paddled up the course of a river in a kayak and completed my collection of flowered shirts.

And now once more I am back in Paris, busy putting together the films that will be released in Autumn; it is quite a job, but exciting, as I told you in my last letter, this gives me the chance to live my travels again. Well, I know many of you are patiently waiting for the new films to be released, the fourth and last part of the series. The end of the road is in sight, I promise that you will see beautiful pictures and that I will lead you once again to the far end of the world.