Power Station
The potential of people power is illustrated through a successful bid to set up solar panels in homes in a London street to reduce cost and aid the environment.
Image courtesy of Dartmouth Films.
Back in 2012 I was delighted to come across a modest but highly engaging documentary with the eccentric but relevant title How to Re-establish a Vodka Empire. It was written and directed by Daniel Edelstyn and was a very personal work since it told of how he travelled to Ukraine to locate and save a vodka factory that had been built up initially by his great grandfather. His enthusiasm was appealing, the family history revealed was touching and Edelstyn’'s own endeavours were endearing. In 2021 he went on to make a second documentary, Bank Job. Here he shared the directorial credit with his partner Hilary Powell who had also contributed to the earlier film but I missed it. However, my memories of his first venture had not faded and I was therefore excited to learn that in Power Station we had another equally personal piece from the two of them. But, given my expectations, I was dismayed to find that this new film in no way recaptured the qualities that I had admired in that first feature.
On paper the concerns expressed in Power Station would seem well suited to treatment by these filmmakers. Edelstyn and Powell live in East London at an address in Lynmouth Road, Walthamstow and in addition to their artistic work see themselves as activists. In recent times they have certainly not been alone in concluding that one can't rely on politicians to get the right things done and in believing that this situation is all the more dangerous given current environmental issues and the huge impact of climate change. They are also believers in the concept of communities coming together and leading the way by example.
Power Station shows them putting these ideas into action by taking the lead in promoting the notion that every house in their road should in effect become its own power station by installing solar panels made available for them. These panels would capture the sun’s energy and turn it into electricity which would power the home and in doing so would not only be environmentally beneficial but would reduce energy bills. In this film Edelstyn and Powell duly record their initial steps, the necessary raising of funds to make the scheme practical, the various ideas which they followed in pursuit of that and the eventual success achieved despite setbacks en route. We learn at the film’s close that what was achieved in Lynmouth Road has led to comparable endeavours around the UK.
It is easy to see the action taken by Dan Edelstyn and Hilary Powell (she perhaps being the more determined and persistent of the two) as as an admirable thing, but that has not led to a film which necessarily earns the enthusiasm of the viewer. It all unfolds in chronological order to be sure, but the use of a handheld camera showing rough and ready images of the couple’s domestic life has a decidedly amateurish feel to it and we all too quickly encounter a tiresomely persistent use of music on the soundtrack which is for the most part so banal as to be completely off-putting. We do however get to meet some of the neighbours including Dorothy who attains her centenary but, in introducing such people including staff and pupils from Barn Croft primary school (itself to be a site for the solar panels), the film fails to integrate these scenes effectively. They may suggest a sense of community but too often feel like arbitrary bits and pieces. One incident included sees the local response when the King Charles and the Queen drive through but it fails to become a meaningful part of the film’s structure.
The family history uncovered in How to Re-establish a Vodka Empire was clear-cut and readily engaging but the technicalities involved in the scheme being undertaken here (whether relating to the setting up of a new currency to be sold off to raise funds or to installation issues late on) are not quite so easy to grasp. Furthermore, by the time that publicity for the money required involves Dan and Hilary spending twenty-three nights on their roof in off-putting conditions, it all starts to seem too close to eccentricity for comfort. At times the film comes across as being as chaotic as the couple themselves can be and, while their role at the centre of things is honestly recorded, the film does seem to carry a note of self-congratulation about it. The couple undoubtedly play their part indefatigably but their efforts will suddenly branch out in yet other directions. Thus it is that after the financial target has been reached the school students are seen recording a song in the hope of it becoming the Christmas No 1. Then with the solar panels all at last in place, the celebration plans extend to creating a Sun Dance Festival which involves germinating 10,000 sunflowers for that purpose, an event portrayed in the film to the accompaniment of Wagner’s ‘Ride of the Valkyries’!
Power Station is undoubtedly a sincere depiction of individuals getting together and their collective action represents what can be achieved through concentrated social effort. Other viewers may find that the film captures all that very effectively but, whether or not it be something to put down to personal taste, I myself while appreciating the intention behind it found that watching the film was for much of time an exasperating experience.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Featuring: Hilary Powell, Dan Edelstyn and the inhabitants of Lynmouth Road London E17.
Dir Hilary Powell and Dan Edelstyn, Pro Dan Edelstyn and Hilary Powell, Ph Hilary Powell, Dan Edelstyn, Leonie Rousham and Natalie Sloan, Ed Alice Powell and Natalie Sloan, Music Nick Graham-Smith, Dan Edelstyn, Zac Gvirtman and Jesse Braun.
Dartmouth Films/Optimistic Productions-Dartmouth Films.
95 mins. UK. 2025. UK Rel: 3 October 2025. Cert. PG.
