Sour Grapes & Stuff

Dear Grapevine,

Does anyone know who these children [in the above photo] are? Who they became? What happens when “the image of happiness” grows up? I am in the process of making a documentary about a trip to Iceland (from Australia). My interest in Iceland originated from this scene from Chris Marker’s ‘Sans Soleil’. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

– Peter Hanlon

Dear Peter,
Last year, Icelandic film enthusiasts launched a search for the girls in the early minutes of Marker’s ‘Sans Soleil’. In the film, the footage is accredited to volcanologist and geologist Haroun Tazieff; it was most likely shot during the Surtsey eruption in 1965. The girls turned out to be three sisters from Draumbær in Surtsey’s neighbour island, Heimaey in the Westman Islands. The sisters are named Kristbjörg, Halldóra and Áshildur Kristmundsdóttir. Kristbjörg, the eldest, now lives in Patreksfjörður, but her younger sisters both reside in Sweden.

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