WISE Film Screenings

In April and May 2025, WISE Partners across seven European countries to host ten ‘cinema-forum’ events on energy poverty, drawing 339 participants from 11 countries, with the overarching goal of raising awareness about why single women at a higher risk of being in energy vulnerability.

By combining short documentary screenings with facilitated discussions, each event created a space for single women and other participants to share experiences and consider practical responses. The format helped move conversations into real-world insights about strengthening energy rights and alleviating energy poverty.

Before and after most screenings, interactive polling was used to assess participants’ understanding of energy poverty – its causes, consequences and gendered impacts – both at home and across Europe. Results were displayed in real time to stimulate reflection and measure learning outcomes.

Together, these events probed energy poverty as a layered issue, combining income, housing quality and unpaid care duties. They also underscored the gaps in data and policy that leave women particularly exposed. The events encouraged modest steps toward peer-to-peer learning and grassroots solidarity, laying groundwork for more focused, rights-based approaches in the future.

The Films

Most events featured some or all of three films produced by WISE Partner, The Energy Action Project (EnAct), with other Partners having translated and embedded subtitles in the local languages. The films are available for use by others and interested parties can contact EnAct about producing additional translations.

• Cold at home (2014) tells the story of Katya, a pensioner in a small village of Ukraine, coping with the end of gas subsidies — and a 240% increase in the price to consumers.
• Darkness (2013) takes viewers to Liberia, where systematic destruction of the electricity system during civil wars is still robbing young women of personal and professional opportunities.
• Pennies make pounds (2014) features Dawn, a single mother of two boys, who lives in a poorly insulated home in Wales. As energy prices rise, the family looks for ways to cut back.

Audience perceptions and learning

Use of interactive polling during the sessions captured the audiences’ reflections on questions such as: What words do you associate with energy vulnerability? What groups in your country are affected by energy vulnerability? What would the right to energy mean to you?

Many participants revised their understanding of both the issues and of governmental roles and state responsibilities. In Hungary, attendees were surprised by the scale of utility subsidies and the extent to which such schemes could result in unfair redistribution. Learning about energy poverty in neighbouring countries, such as insulation initiatives in Slovakia, helped situate the Hungarian experience within a broader European context. Importantly, attendees also expressed mistrust in official statistics, particularly those issued by the national statistical office, indicating a demand for more transparent data.

Across countries, attendees appreciated gaining specific knowledge on practical solutions and support systems. In Croatia, citizens learned how to navigate complex application procedures for energy-related support, while in France, participants discovered organisations such as Locataires Ensemble and expressed eagerness to engage in community-based solutions (such as community energy). The Italian and Bulgarian sessions similarly catalysed discussions on self-organisation, empowerment, and cooperative responses to systemic issues.

Participants widely reported increased interest in collective action, with many expressing a willingness to support further initiatives. Some planned to volunteer for outreach activities, while others intended to raise awareness within their personal networks or support political movements advocating for a just green transition. This shift from passive awareness to active engagement indicates that the events succeeded not only in raising knowledge but also in nurturing civic agency.

Key insights from WISE screenings

Finally, the WISE screenings collectively brought into sharp relief several interlinked issues underpinning gendered energy poverty. They also charted pathways toward more inclusive, rights-based responses. Key findings cross seven main areas.

1. Multidimensional nature of energy poverty
   Participants across all contexts came to appreciate energy poverty not simply as a matter of bill arrears or energy costs, but as a complex intersection of income, housing quality, caregiving responsibilities and social exclusion. Single mothers, elderly women, rural dwellers and students with precarious tenancies were repeatedly identified as bearing the heaviest burdens. In each setting, testimonies and expert insights underscored how inadequate insulation, outdated heating systems and shadowy rental agreements amplify vulnerability.
   
2. Gender-specific impacts and invisible burdens
   A recurring theme was the way in which traditional gender roles exacerbate energy hardship. Women often juggle paid work with unpaid caring duties, be it for children, elderly relatives or neighbours, limiting their capacity to navigate bureaucratic support schemes or to retrofit their homes. Students, particularly young women from migrant or low-income backgrounds, highlighted unseen strains: mental-health challenges, remittance obligations and social isolation, all intensified by poor living conditions.
   
3. Data gaps and policy blind spots
   The scarcity of gender-disaggregated data was highlighted. Without robust statistics, policymakers struggle to design targeted measures for single women, older households or student tenants. Participants noted that many existing energy-poverty initiatives adopt a one-size-fits-all logic, overlooking the specific thresholds at which female-headed households or marginalised student groups fall into hardship.
   
4. Cultural and participatory tools for awareness-raising
   Film screenings emerged as a potent catalyst for empathy and critical reflection. Documentaries -accompanied by interactive tools and facilitated discussions helped to translate abstract policy debates into lived experiences. This multimedia approach not only informed but also inspired: attendees frequently expressed a desire to replicate similar “cinema-forum” formats in schools, community centres and local cafés.
   
5. Building community and solidarity networks WISE film screenings fostered new alliances among NGOs, local authorities and grassroots actors. In smaller towns, such as Aubervilliers, this translated into concrete plans for mutual support: energy-solidarity cafés, peer-advice networks and joint advocacy campaigns. Translocal solidarity also featured prominently, with stories from Ukraine and Liberia reminding participants of the shared global stakes in a just energy transition.
   
6. From awareness to advocacy and policy influence
   Most attendees left with more than knowledge: they gained a sense of agency. Many committed to raising awareness in their own spheres – be it political office, community organisations or academic institutions and to pushing for gender-sensitive policy reforms.
   
7. Towards inclusive, rights-based energy transitions
   Perhaps most striking was the consensus that technical fixes alone will not suffice to improve the lives of single women currently experiencing energy poverty in Europe. A truly just transition demands participatory decision-making, rigorous data collection and sustained funding streams for the most vulnerable. WISE’s WP4 film screening events charted a route map: combine activist momentum with cultural tools for ongoing engagement, and cement alliances across local, national and transnational levels.
   

In weaving together these issues – multidimensional poverty, gendered burdens, data deficits, cultural mobilisation, community solidarity and rights-based advocacy – WISE has laid the groundwork for advocating a more equitable energy future.