'Secret Mall Apartment' by Jeremy Workman (CC '94) Captivates Audiences

Undergraduate Film alum Jeremy Workman (CC '94) is making headlines with his latest documentary, Secret Mall Apartment, a project that has been nothing short of a sensation in the international film festival circuit. 

“We’ve already had such amazing showings at SXSW, Hot Docs, Melbourne Film Festival, Vancouver FF, Cleveland FF, Mill Valley FF, and others,” Workman shared. “Along the way, we’ve won nine film festival awards, sold out probably 20+ shows, and even had a couple of insane screenings with 1,500 and 3,000 in attendance.”

The documentary has racked up significant accolades, including both the Audience Award and the Jury Award for Best Documentary at IFFBoston and Calgary International Film Festival. These "daily doubles" solidify Secret Mall Apartment as a standout in the documentary genre that has captivated audiences and continued its streak with its showcase at DocNYC last November. 

Secret Mall Apartment is about eight Rhode Islanders who created a secret apartment inside the busy Providence Place Mall in 2003 and lived in it for four years, filming everything along the way. 

We sat down with Workman eager to know what led him to this story. “It's sort of a roundabout way that I came upon this project. I was filming for another film in Athens, Greece inside a building located in a cultural centre and it was covered in incredible tape art. I was blown away, I just couldn’t believe it. I decided that I had to meet the artist who created it and it turned out to be Michael Townsend,” one of the eight artists who created the titular living space.

Michael Townsend was inspired to live at the mall after he and a community of several hundred artists were evicted from their homes at Fort Thunder—a complex of old mills slated for redevelopment into upscale housing and retail spaces. "Me and Michael became very close very fast and saw eye to eye, like kindred spirits," said Workman. "At one point, he told me about this crazy story and I thought he was punking me. But as I dug deeper, I realized it was real. He pulled out his iPad and showed me shots of these people pushing their couches up the stairs, in this apartment they were building at the mall.”

Michael and the other seven people involved—a group Workman likes to refer to as the Mall Eight—snuck in furniture, tapped into the mall’s electricity and even constructed a wall, smuggling in over two tons of cinderblock. “The archival footage is just incredible. They filmed everything with this tiny ridiculous camera they bought for $129 at Radio Shack, and it was small enough to fit in an Altoids case, which made it easy for them to film constantly. On this crappy camera filming at 320 by 240, they filmed incredible footage of them bringing furniture in, building a wall, dodging security, conversations they were having about gentrification and around Michael’s marriage breaking up. I knew I wanted to balance these sugar rush scenes of them doing these crazy stunts with the deeper material the film is about.” 

Perhaps the most unique aspect of this documentary is its ability to shape shift. Just when you think you are watching a movie about a group of pranksters who pulled off this wild stunt to live at the mall, the narrative unravels and reveals something far more profound: a portrait of impassioned artists who have incredible ideals about art, and consider art a way of being, no different or separate from living life. 

This transformation in perspective turns the film into an ode to creativity, showcasing people who are not afraid to pursue an unconventional path. “Michael’s whole philosophy is that you know you are living your life as art. All these people are going against the grain of society. They are outsiders and iconoclasts who are not following the normal path to success. The secret mall apartment is an art collective. They aren't just individual artists hoping to make a quick buck but are actually obsessed with something that lies beyond that.”

The secret apartment became the headquarters for the Mall Eight to pursue their collective and individual projects. It became a developmental incubator that would birth many other creative endeavors. The Mall Eight went to Oklahoma City to create an Optimism Mural on the anniversary of the Oklahoma bombing. They also undertook a five year project to memorialize the first responders, police and firefighters who lost their lives to 9/11 by creating tape art of each person’s individual silhouette on the streets of New York City. 

The film that Workman has created is very meta—it is, after all, a documentary about a documentary. “I love films that keep opening up on themselves. Like an onion. I hope the audience goes on that journey where they go in thinking it's one thing, and come out realizing that it's another. It's like the Trojan horse. In Secret Mall Apartment, this prank is the Trojan horse for a deeper exploration of the bigger issues. And suddenly you're like, 'Oh, wait. Why am I crying? Why am I getting goosebumps? Why is this suddenly getting sad?'” he noted.

Toward the end of the film, there’s a poignant moment when Michael’s brother is asked whether the actions of the Mall Eight were a piece of performance art or just a prank. He responds that he doesn’t believe it was art—rather, it was Michael’s mind striving to express itself in every creative way possible. When the interviewer counters with, “Isn’t that art?” The question lingers, prompting us to reflect on what we deem worthy of being placed on the pedestal of art. It challenges notions of who gets to create and consume art, where we find it, and whether the act of creation itself—is inherently art. The scene underscores the idea that creativity is not confined to elite definitions but is an intrinsic part of being human.

Workman’s approach to the making of the film validates this notion. “You know, it's funny because I never talk about myself as an artist," he said. "I never do. I try to not ever espouse big issues of art. That said, I am always trying to do something with film that is, you know, for the lack of a better word, artistic. I just try to make cool movies that people can really sink their teeth into.” 

While we continue to savor Secret Mall Apartment, Workman has found another compelling story to sink his teeth into. He is currently working on a documentary set in South Korea about a tiny boarding school with 20 students who are all North Korean defectors. “And yet, it will not be serious and harrowing but full of youth, possibility, and silliness,” Workman adds.

Reflecting on his filmmaking career, Workman shared, “It's very interesting and almost—you know—cute that what I was doing in Columbia's Undergraduate Film Program is exactly what I'm doing now. When I was at Columbia, I was running around with cameras, filming weird documentaries, and I had an Avid in my dorm. And now I'm running around with cameras still making the same kind of movies, and there's an Avid in my apartment. So it's not very different. I think that Columbia really helped give me the wherewithal and the backbone to pursue that. And that's what I've been doing literally since I got out of college.”

The impact of Workman’s documentary lingers in the truths declared by his subjects—in their defiance, vulnerability and belief in art as a way of being—and in Workman’s own artistic process over the years. It is a reminder that sometimes art is not found on the floors of polished art galleries but in the corners of our lives where imagination takes root. 

You can catch this awe-inspiring documentary in New York City on March 26, 2025 at IFC.