At a time when divisive political rhetoric is more strident than ever, this charming documentary from film-making duo Hilary Powell and Dan Edelstyn is a healing balm. Partners in life and in art, the couple build much of their practice around their community in Walthamstow, east London. Their previous project involved setting up an artist-run bank, selling their own currency notes and using the proceeds to buy back £1.2m of debt owned by ordinary local people. This latest film charts an even more ambitious undertaking: to equip the houses on their street with solar panels, transforming the neighbourhood into a power station.
Much of the film was shot by Edelstyn during lockdown, when the couple’s master plan first took shape. Zoom meetings with energy experts and collaborators are punctuated with mundane everyday worries, like dirty dishes piling up in the sink. For activists, it seems, life and work are never truly separated. The lo-fi, handheld cinematography, through which Powell and Edelstyn often directly address the viewer, lends a moving intimacy to their momentous endeavours. From sleeping on the roof for a fundraising challenge to planting a thousand sunflowers, their approach prioritises collective action as much as visual impact.
