In 1963, Belmondo, with director Philippe de Broca's team, were in location in Brazil for the production of "That Man from Rio", an adventure film shot in some of Rio de Janeiro’s architectural landmarks, including the Capanema Building, the very one that launched Niemeyer’s career.

From Rio, the film ended up landing on the Monumental Axis in Brasilia. In France, the movie was a huge success, attracting thousands of spectators, including Niemeyer himself : the architect attended the screening of "That Man from Rio" in a Paris’ movie theater, at a time when he strongly missed his own country (which he had left because of the military dictatorship), and he was very moved when hearing the applause of the audience, whenever the sequence shot in Brasilia appeared on the screen.

"This is a incredibly wonderful movie, which helped build the myth of Brasilia in my life", says Benoit. "Belmondo running through this enormous site, perched on scaffolding, the bandits chasing him, with the backdrop of the Esplanade of Ministries and the Three Powers Plaza : these are the first pictures ever of Brasilia that many French may see, back to the 60’s".

Despite a constant presence of Niemeyers’ work in his inspiration, it is not Niemeyer who led Benoit to painting. His first forays into this art came from visual interpretations of Canadian musician Joni Mitchell's works. Benoit later established, through his painting, a relationship between his muse and some of Niemeyer’s themes.

"There is a strong correspondence between Mitchell and Niemeyer", emphasizes Benoit. "Niemeyer describes the sensuality of clouds passing over the Cerrado land in his biography The Curbs of Time, and Mitchell spoke about love while evoking the clouds in Both Sides Now (from the Clouds album, 1969).