“I think it’s such an incredibly important thing that when you want to make change, you’re not just doing it because you have to or you’re all burdened to. You’re doing it because it’s great fun.” The words of human rights attorney Katrin Oddsdottir capture the theme of A Land Shaped by Women.

The film follows the van-powered expedition of Freeride World Champions Anne-Flore Marxer and Aline Bock through the Icelandic mountains and ocean. Marxer, in the director’s seat, chose Iceland because of its top world ranking for gender equality. Indeed, the small country elected the world’s first woman president, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, in 1980. (Nearly 40 years later, the United States has yet to do the same.)

“Having Vigdís as our president gave us courage to believe in ourselves,” Nikita founder Heida Birgisdottir says. Birgisdottir, Oddsdottir and other Icelandic women deliver inspiring messages throughout the film while Marxer and Bock deepen those messages with displays of diverse athleticism. They balance lengthy splitboard missions and winter camping with surfing waves while snowflakes fall from the sky. Their strength in the outdoor arena is palatable. But these women want more than deep powder and perfect waves.

“The girls of today demand power, equality and respect,” Una Torfadottir says in the film. “We are not asking politely, we are demanding something that should have been ours a long time ago.”