Travel journal entries weave a narrative that counterpoises the austere Icelandic 'frontier' landscape with the banalities of travel circumstances.

The stoic beauty the Icelandic landscape forms a backdrop for a series of witty and caustic letters written at the turn of the century by a woman named Hetty as she treks with her companion Masie, four school girls and their school marm. The film juxtaposes Hetty's ironic cataloguing of the petty social interactions of her companions as they endure discomfort and boredom with historic accounts of catastrophes that reveal the Icelandic people subject to the awesome forces of nature.

KEY CREDITS
Director, Producer, Camera, Edit, Sound Design: Deborah Stratman
Associate Producer: Grete Dalum
Additional Sound Recording: Melinda Fries, Juris Poskus, James Benning
Sound Mix: Randy Wilson

Voices and Appearances by
Nancy Mitchnick: Hetty's voice
Sven Reiermann: Danish voice
Hrafnhildur Jónasdóttir: Icelandic voice
Thorgerther Jóna Gudmundsdóttir: Girl on beach
Gudmundur Hallgrímsson: Sheep Shaver

Music By
Alfred Schnittke
from: "In Memorium", "String Quartet No. 2", "String Quartet No. 3", "Viola Concerto" & "Septet"

Texts By
Jón Thorláksson, 1727
Eggert Olafsson & Bjarni Pálsson, 1752-1757
William Jackson Hooker, 1809
Louis MacNiece, 1932

AWARDS
Athens Int'l Film/Video Fest: Best Experimental film, 1998