Hot Docs 2024: Secret Mall Apartment Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Hot Docs Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

In 2003, artist Michael Townsend and seven friends decided to do a different art exposition. They would sleep in the Providence Place Mall in Rhode Island, US. Exploring the place, they found a negative—an intersection of two plans that left out an empty and useless space. As a result, they decided to occupy that vague room and slowly started building a small apartment within the mall. That apartment would last four years until Michael was forced out. 

Secret Mall Apartment, skillfully directed by Jeremy Workman, delves deep into the intricacies of this unique story. Blending interviews with all eight members of this endeavour, meticulously recreating the mall space and offering a collection of evocative photos. Even a wooden miniature of the mall is employed to elucidate its unique shapes and architecture. All of this makes for a fully immersive experience. Michael, the film’s subject, came from a military lineage, but his creativity started at a young age. Showcasing his connection to his community through his art, his works were heavily influenced by his environment. All of those he welcomed to the apartment with him were also involved in the arts. His idea for the mall apartment relates to the issue of the incoming gentrification of his community. The mall merely represented the starting point for washing the area’s industrial leanings. Besides losing momentum in some transitional cuts between interviews and archival footage, the film achieves a high level of public interest. 

In the end, Secret Mall Apartment thrives in its telling of a very interesting story about the thin line between an artist’s life and their messaging through their art. Immersed in Rhode Island’s gentrification context and the search for involving a group, Michael’s story is about dedication. And that final product is one that is sure to engage audiences from the start until the credits roll. 

still courtesy of Hot Docs

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Pedro Lima

Brazilian film writer. He is also a producer and executive producer for Zariah Filmes. Member of the International Film Society Critics Association (IFSCA), International Documentary Association (IDA), and Gotham and Media Film Institute.