Audience members at The Flava Fest, who packed into theaters to see “Power Station” in the Czech Republic for a documentary showcase, said they felt unexpectedly upbeat after watching a film that tackles climate change one step at a time.
The 29th annual festival certainly offers its usual wealth of progressive programming, but in terms of emotion, one viewer told co-directors Hilary Powell and Dan Edelstein that the films here are typically angry, or perhaps even depressing.
But laughter, spectacle and impressive civic engagement are the trademarks of this bickering, tumultuous couple, as they have shown in past films.
The pair managed to revive a Soviet-era distillery taken over by the Ukrainian state in their 2012 documentary How to Reestablish a Vodka Empire, before moving on to Banking in 2021, where they bought up and forgave $1.5 million in predatory loans – while, naturally, blowing up a golden van into the air.
So it seems like what this dueling duo actually creates is a film that’s as whimsical as it is a document.
This time, in “Power Station”, which competes for Ji.hlava’s main document award, the pair decide to tackle Britain’s growing energy crisis, where a growing number of people are struggling to pay their monthly electricity bills.
Cut to Lynmouth Road in Walthamstow, north-east London: With 39% of Britons struggling to heat their homes, Edelstein and Powell huddle under blankets, trying in vain to stay warm with endless mugs of tea.
They’re juggling civic engagement Zoom calls, meeting with political economist Anne Pettifor and others, and, oh yeah, launching a green energy movement to power entire neighborhoods and eventually hope to bring free solar panels to the rest of England, all while making ends meet and getting to school.
Edelstein says it’s clear that even the elected leaders of the most progressive political parties are not up to the task, so it’s up to communities to show that it can be done. Hopefully, if enough people can see green energy in action for themselves, the states will finally see it.
But with cooler temperatures and rising bills weighing on them, Edelstein believes he needs a compelling character.
“It actually helps the main character not keep up with all this stuff after filming the unwashed dishes and being vulnerable,” Powell asserted.
She let him know that she wasn’t impressed with the pitch.
But Edelstein’s case is clear. “What are they doing with our taxes?” he asks. “The government should provide solar panels to all citizens.”
And if they don’t, the artist agitators will.
This time, raising money for neighborhood panels may require camping on rooftops during a record-cold winter, windy and at times freezing.
But if that’s the case, Edelstein and Powell are willing to endure wet bedding in the dark.
And as the audience quickly discovers, they’re not just watching two unlikely characters start a movement, they’re actually watching them build a movie.
“You bastard,” Hilary exclaimed as she was filmed brushing the tangles out of her hair. “Stop!”
“You’re a very public person and you share all your feelings and emotions, so I thought, what the heck…?”
Meanwhile, Powell compiled highly detailed charts, spreadsheets, models, and eventually an elaborate form of local currency for the plan.
Powell said she finds her partner’s way of speaking so distressing that she sometimes asks, “Would you please stop presenting? I think you’re the worst documentary maker in the world.”
In discussions with Tom Ruxton from the HEET Project, they learned that 27% of Walthamstow Forest’s population is currently considered fuel poor, the second highest rate in London.
Edelstein argues that if the government actually turned “every home in this country into a power plant…the cost would be paid for by the sun itself within about 10 years. So it’s just ridiculous that it doesn’t happen. So why not make it happen?”
The next step is to go door to door and give people free solar panels. But of course this is London. Will they open the door?
Soon, Edelstein actually gets to know the neighbors. They include a woman born in the 1920s whose knees are “a little wobbly” because she couldn’t go out during the government shutdown, and a man born in Pakistan whose walls are deteriorating because he spent all his income on his children’s education.
It turns out that convincing neighboring countries that an energy-sharing system is a viable solution is half the battle.
But in the grand tradition of protest art, the pair captivate even the most cynical of the community, receive media coverage, and eventually become sponsored by an energy company and solar panels begin to be installed.
In collaboration with the UK’s Optimistic Foundation, the couple is now sharing an organizing template. They say this is effective in providing solar power to local schools as well.
“Power Station” is a poignant comedy that shows what can really be done to turn around the various situations of struggling neighbors.
“We’re trying to show that we actually have the power to make a difference through stories that tell the stories of different people and histories of this one street, this one place,” Powell said.
Power Station, co-produced by Powell and Edelstein for Dartmouth Film Productions, is currently showing in UK cinemas.
