There are certain filmmakers who just seem to radiate what it means to be a "Heartland filmmaker." By "Heartland filmmaker," of course, I mean a filmmaker whose works seem to consistently belong within the cinematic universe that is Indy's Academy Award-qualifying Heartland International Film Festival.
Jeremy Workman is such a filmmaker.
Workman, also a recipient of the Richard D. Propes Social Impact Award for his doc short Deciding Vote, is back at Heartland in 2024 with his latest feature doc Secret Mall Apartment. It's a film that could have easily been nothing more than a cinematic quirk, however, that's not how Workman works and this rather amazing true story becomes something so much more special.
The film centers around eight young Rhode Islanders, largely led by Rhode Island School of Design professor Michael Townsend, who built and lived in a secret apartment in the Providence Place Mall from 2003 to 2007. The mall, developed through the lens of urban renewal (ie, gentrification), was developed with unique spacing and angles that created, unknown at the time, space within the framework of the mall for an "apartment" that would become what amounts to performance art space, simple yet surprisingly abundant living quarters, and more than a little bit social statement.
Townsend, an underground installation artist and one of the founders of the Tape Art Movement, would unite these creative souls in a form of protest as this development led to another and another and another. Those displaced at the expense of urban renewal were, quite often, lower income folks and struggling artists.
For four years, this secret mall apartment would continue to expand largely owing to the intelligence and ingenuity of these artists. Little by little, they'd add to their space - televisions, lights, home decor, even sofas - somehow bringing these items in without getting caught despite ever present security.
A lo-fi camera adds to the dazzle, videos captured by Townsend now presented to us in Workman's documentary. It's remarkable to fathom and also remarkable to learn that only Townsend himself would ever actually be discovered and charged. The others continued in the space even up to the time when Workman began his film.
Despite the uniqueness of this story, Workman does a tremendous job of humanizing the artists and their efforts over the years ranging from volunteering in hospital to creating memorials in New York post-9/11. Workman makes sure we understand that there's something substantial underneath everything that unfolds in Secret Mall Apartment and yet that substance is rather simple, straightforward, and still fiercely compelling and engaging.
Secret Mall Apartment is the kind of documentary that has you rushing over to the internet to learn more about this story and the artists who lived it. What you will likely find is that Workman does such a remarkable job of telling the story that you'll feel like this film is really the go-to source for how it all unfolded and what it all really meant and still means.
Unsurprisingly, Secret Mall Apartment has proven to be popular on the indie fest circuit and has picked up prizes at Sidewalk Film Festival (Best Doc Feature), Cleveland International Film Festival (Greg Gund Memorial Standing Up Award), deadCenter Film Festival (Audience Award), Calgary International Film Festival (Special Jury Prize for Artistic Subversion), Independent Film Festival of Boston (Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award, Doc Feature), and NewportFilm Outdoors (Audience Award).
For more information on screenings at Indy's Heartland International Film Festival, visit the Heartland Film website.
Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic
