From Hetty to Nancy (Deborah Stratman, 1997)

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: Nancy Mitchnick (Hetty’s voice), Sven Reiermann (Danish voice), Hrafnhildur Jónasdóttir (Icelandic voice), Thorgerther Jóna Gudmundsdóttir (Girl on beach), Gudmundur Hallgrímsson (Sheep Shaver)
Music: Alfred Schnittke, from In Memorium, String Quartet No. 2, String Quartet No. 3, Viola Concerto & Septet
Texts: Jón Thorláksson (1727), Eggert Ólafsson & Bjarni Pálsson (1752 – 1757), William Jackson Hooker (1809), Louis MacNiece (1932)
Running time: 44 minutes
Format: 16mm, color

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.

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