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Secret Mall Apartment film image; man plays video game while woman talks on phone

Secret Mall Apartment

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Did you ever wish you could live at the mall? In 2003, that’s just what Michael Townsend and several of his friends did, creating one of the most original guerilla art projects of the 21st century, building and furnishing a hidden 750 sq. foot apartment — complete with couch, cabinet, even a TV and PlayStation — inside the Providence Mall in Rhode Island. It remained undetected for four years. As a small cohort of artists who had been displaced due to the mall’s development, the initial act of living in the mall evolved from a practical joke to a personal act of reclaiming space from real estate moguls and developers.

Stitched together from camcorder footage from twenty years ago alongside interviews with the original participants -– many of whom are only revealing themselves now for the first time -– Secret Mall Apartment strikes a balancing act between the absurdity of its story and surprisingly profound questions about gentrification, the nature of social art, and what truly makes a home.

Director

Jeremy Workman

Featuring

Michael Townsend

Credits
Country of Origin

USA

Year

2024

Language

English

91 min
Wheelhouse Creative, Altman Films

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Credits

Executive Producer

Jesse Eisenberg, Allen Altman, Cathie Altman, Matthew Spain,Ivan Williams, Peter Haberman, Lance Hoffman, Marnie Black, Scott Black, Amy Zelnick, Brad Zelnick

Producer

Jeremy Workman

Cinematography

Michael Lisnet, Jeremy Workman, Dan Kennedy

Editor

Paul Murphy, Jeremy Workman

Production Design

Suja Ono

Original Music

Olivier Manchon, Clare Manchon

Art Director

Grace Bilbao, Susan Choi

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