Film on artists who lived in Providence Place mall will play in RI - but Providence screening is private

PROVIDENCE – There's no question there's interest in a local showing of the documentary “Secret Mall Apartment, about a band of artists who hung out unseen as mall rats for four years at Providence Place mall.

Within hours of a Providence Journal story publishing Tuesday afternoon about a sneak-peek showing next week at the Providence Library, the library was overwhelmed with ticket requests, forcing producer Jeremy Workman to adjust plans on the spot and make the showing private, limited to only those who worked on the movie's production.

But because of the exhibited huge interest, Workman said producers are now "eagerly exploring" other local venues for the documentary prior to its already scheduled showing in Newport in September, at the Newport Film festival.

Story of the artists who lived in Providence Place mall

In 2003, eight Rhode Island artists created a secret 750-square-foot apartment in a corner of the Providence Place mall parking garage. They loitered there off and on for four years, filming everything along the way. They snuck in furniture, tapped into the mall’s electricity, and even constructed a wall, smuggling in more than two tons of cinderblock.

Far more than just a wild prank, Workman has said, the secret apartment became a deeply meaningful place for its inhabitants. It was a personal expression of defiance against local gentrification, a boundary-pushing work of public/private art.

That is, until 2007, when mall security officers discovered what was going on. Providence police charged the “ring-leader” Michael Townsend, a tape artist, with trespassing and the mall owners banned him from ever returning.

More: Artists lived in a secret apartment inside Providence Place mall. Now it's a movie.

Townsend told The Journal last month he hoped the mall proprietors might forgive him by now, though he was still waiting.

“For God sakes, give me a ribbon to cut,” he said, laughing. “Let me back in. It would be great if we had a public un-banning.”

The 91-minute movie is scheduled to be shown Sept. 5, at 7:30 p.m. on the lawn at The Elms, 367 Bellevue Ave, Newport.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: 'Secret Mall Apartment' documentary to play in RI