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Secret Mall Apartment

“So much of what the mall sells us is this performance of a consumer lifestyle. The mall apartment was this opportunity to have this set where we could play out the unrealistic and unattainable fantasies of the mall… You love beautifying things? Well, so do we.” — Adriana Valdez Young

When the Providence Place Mall debuted in 1999, it was a destination for lovers of mall culture. It faced the highway and was easily accessible via a dedicated exit on 95. The mall’s purpose was not to serve its own community. In fact there were no entrances to the mall facing downtown. Instead, the mall was positioned in a way that attracted customers who could arrive, park, shop and eat and leave without seeing any other part of the city. And in turn the city would benefit from the increased business.

In the early 2000s my mom and I would venture out to Providence just to visit the mall. In the time we were there wee wouldn’t see a single other part of the city. That is except for a small stretch along the Woonasquatucket River where we drove past seemingly abandoned factories to get to the mall’s parking garage. The contrast between the city’s crumbling architecture and the shiny new mall always made a bit melancholy. Little did I know that at the time in that area was a thriving artist community protesting the capitalist monstrosity with hidden museums and art installations. And one of those installations would make its way into the mall.

Directed by Jeremy Workman, Secret Mall Apartment chronicles a time in Providence, Rhode Island history when a group of eight artists lived in a makeshift apartment in the mall. The intent wasn’t to get free housing. Rather, the secret apartment was both art installation and protest. The artists observed the unique architecture of the mall, found a void in the space that was inhabitable and mastered the art of going undetected as they built and lived in a unique space all their own. Smuggling in items for the apartment, residing and avoiding getting caught by security was all part of their performance. The secret apartment was also a space for these artists to discuss their plans for public art works and using their art to honor their community as well as victims of terrorist attacks.

“I do really believe that art and aesthetic experiences are good in and of themselves. That they’re not means to anything but that they make life better.” — James Mercer

This fascinating documentary includes archival footage of the experiment, interviews with the artists involved and a history of the mall and the local art scene. The film captures a unique time in the city’s history but more importantly  contemplates the purpose of art and the importance of human connection.

Secret Mall Apartment is distributed by Music Box Films and is available on DVD, Blu-ray and Video On Demand.

Posted Short Films

Shorts Spotlight: The Last Observers

The Last Observers
dir. Maja Mikkelsen
25 min.

Karin Persson and Lennart Karlsson have spent nearly forty years observing the patterns of migratory birds in Falsterbo, the most southern part of Sweden. They live and work in a lighthouse; tracking birds, observing clouds and reporting their findings to local weather stations. With the rapid development of technology, their unique service is no longer needed. Now it’s time for this husband-and-wife team to say goodbye to a career that brought them a lousy salary but a happy life.

The Last Observers is a short documentary made by Karin and Lennart’s daughter, filmmaker Maka Mikkelsen. This is a magnificent film. It captures so beautifully the tenderness this couple has for each other and the joy that their work and their time in nature brings them. It also serves as a gentle reminder that climate change is a looming danger and that technology can never replace the human heart and mind.

If you enjoyed films like Fire of Love (2022) or Songs of Earth (2023), make sure to check out The Last Observers.

Posted Documentaries

Grizzly Man (2005)

“Treadwell is gone. The argument of how wrong or how right he was, disappears into a distance into a fog. What remains is his footage.” — Werner Herzog

The most disturbing part of Werner Herzog’s documentary Grizzly Man (2005) is not the gruesome nature of Timothy Treadwell’s fate. Rather it’s Treadwell’s misguided benevolence which was self-serving and came from a profound misunderstanding of nature. Herzog weaves found footage from the last few years of Treadwell’s summers observing grizzly bears in Alaska and almost theatrical interviews with his loved ones and locals to paint the portrait a complex individual. While Treadwell’s violent death looms over the film, Herzog expertly engages the audience in what seems like a film within a film, one that Treadwell was still making when his subject became his killer. In the end, this is a film about an individual who went from a child who loved teddy bears to a traumatized man who desperately wanted to be accepted by a dangerous and ultimately indifferent creature.

Posted Female Filmmakers

Fair Play

“Para tener una familia linda tienes que trabajar juntos.”

“To have a beautiful family you have to work together.“

As the saying goes, “happy wife, happy life.” However, this is not the reality for many married couples. While the husband might be living his happy life his wife is overwhelmed by inequity of domestic labor. Wives are burdened with the majority of household work while also caring for their children and working a full-time job. And husbands have been conditioned to expect that work to be done by women and either contribute little to domestic labor or when they’re asked to do more they weaponize their incompetence to make sure they’re never asked again.

This is a sad state of affairs but the tides are turning. There is a growing awareness of domestic inequality and women are speaking up about it. Directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom and based on the book by Eve Rodsky, Fair Play is a documentary that examines the family dynamic when it comes to domestic labor and how couples can work towards a more equitable situation. While the focus is on straight couples there is also a spotlight on queer couples and how they manage this dynamic within their own relationships.

Women will feel both validated and infuriated watching this documentary. With that said, Fair Play offers viewers hope that things can change. I appreciated Eve Rodsky’s discussion on the nuances of mental labor because it’s unseen work that really isn’t appreciated. Ultimately, the film offers a balanced perspective with the goal that men can ultimately change and that divorce doesn’t have to be the resolution.

I believe that the ongoing discourse, anthems like “You Make Me Do Too Much Labour” and films like Fair Play will help shift the dynamic. We need to keep talking about this so eventually we do reach that ideal of “happy wife, happy life”.

Where to Watch
Still from The End of Quiet
Posted Film Reviews

The End of Quiet

In a remote part of West Virginia lies Green Bank, a small town of just under 150 residents. Since the 1950s, Green Bank has been the home to the National Radio Astronomy Observatory which detects even the faintest of transmissions from space. In order for the observatory and its employees to do their job, there must be a “Quiet Zone” of 35k square kilometers. That means that anyone living in this zone is prohibited from using cellular services or WiFi. As the years go by, this self-imposed restriction is becoming harder and harder to enforce. With so much of our social infrastructure relying on some level of connectivity, it’s becoming impossible to live without it. Can Green Bank stay as it is or is this the end of quiet?

Directed by Kasper Bisgaard and Mikael Lypinski, The End of Quiet is a contemplative documentary that follows the stories of a handful of Green Bank residents living and working in the Quiet Zone. Instead of talking head interviews, the film captures snippets of the lives of the residents. Subjects include employees of the observatory, a gun enthusiast and his granddaughter, a young couple growing their family, a lonely Vietnam vet and a chronically ill woman and her dog. We observe the subjects as they display varying degrees of calm and unease living in this unique part of the world. There is a sense of paranoia throughout the film. Discussions of alien life seem to point to an underlying fear of authority and forces on the outside.

I was particularly interested in the idea of technological remoteness as a form of control or isolation. I would have liked more information about the observatory and a greater focus on the particulars of the Quiet Zone. However, this documentary seems to be more of a time capsule of the last days of this community’s particular way of life. The End of Quiet will get audiences thinking about their reliance on connectivity and the ramifications of modern life.

The End of Quiet is an official selection of the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival Documentary Competition.

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