Secret Mall Apartment (Regular run) at Real Art Ways

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Secret Mall Apartment (Regular run)

 

On Saturday, May 3, we will host a special screening and conversation with director/producer Jeremy Workman, artists Michael Townsend and Umberto Crenca (both who are in the documentary).
On Tuesday, May 6, we will host a special screening and conversation with City of Hartford Director of Arts, Culture, and Entertainment Taneisha Duggan and Head of Development Services Jeff Aucker.

Tickets for both events can be found on this page.

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“Upon first glance, Jeremy Workman’s Secret Mall Apartment tells a bizarre story about artists who created and lived in an apartment in their local mall. But at its core, the film offers unique insights into gentrification, consumerism, and the impermanence of art.” – The Austin Chronicle

100% on Rotten Tomatoes

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Imagine living rent-free in a mall for four years—hidden in plain sight, just beyond the food court. That’s what a group of artists pulled off in the early 2000s. Director Jeremy Workman brings their astonishing true story to the screen in Secret Mall Apartment.

Workman—an Emmy-nominated, Academy Award-shortlisted, SXWS Jury Grand Prize-winning director and filmmaker—has edited multiple Oscar montages and Lifetime Achievements tributes and has featured some of his films on Netflix.

Produced by actor and fellow filmmaker Jesse Eisenberg, Secret Mall Apartment chronicles the covert creation of a fully functional living space inside a Rhode Island mall, a subversive experiment in urban squatting and artistic rebellion.

Bob Trevino Likes It
“If you want a balm for these difficult times, Bob Trevino Likes It is it.” – FilmWeek
“A deeply moving film, and a passionate, uplifting paean to the importance of found family.” – AV Club
“When one performance in a movie is exceptional, you can credit the actor. But when everyone is great, it has to have at least something to do with the director. That’s the case with “Bob Trevino Likes It,” which has three standout performances.” – SF Chronicle

95% on Rotten Tomatoes

Inspired by the true friendship that writer/director Tracie Laymon found with a stranger when looking for her father online. Often playing the role of caretaker to people like her father who should be caring for her, Lily Trevino longs for a familial connection, having been abandoned by her mother as a child and then suddenly by her father in her twenties.

Bob Trevino works long hours alone at a construction company to support his wife Jeanie’s scrapbooking habit. The couple has endured a lot in the past decade, and Bob has sought to put his wife first, to the point of ignoring his own feelings and need for friendship, meaning, and connection–that is, until he gets an unexpected Facebook message from a stranger.

Lily and Bob’s blossoming friendship becomes a vital source of connection and healing in both their lives. Bob’s small acts of fatherly kindness fill a familial void in Lily’s life and hold the power to change her direction forever. In their own ways, these two must both learn they are worthy of extraordinary love exemplified through small acts of kindness.

A Nice Indian Boy
“Roshan Sethi’s quietly confident film unspools a tender love story between two men—and the generations learning to accept them—with wit, nuance and no interest in cliché.” – Observer
“In this vibrant addition to cinema’s romantic landscape, love isn’t the only winner: cultural understanding and the freedom to choose your own path triumph as well.” – The New York Times

96% on Rotten Tomatoes

Naveen Gavaskar is a self-effacing, soft-spoken doctor with a boisterous mother, seemingly perfect sister and quiet father. The Gavaskars are outwardly accepting of Naveen’s sexuality but have never had to confront it in practice. While at temple, Naveen meets Jay Kurundkar, a white man adopted by two Indian parents. Naveen is slowly charmed and softened by Jay’s sincerity and confidence. They fall in love–even as Naveen avoids telling his family about Jay. One afternoon, they run into Naveen’s brother-in-law and an embarrassed Naveen describes Jay as a “friend”. The encounter precipitates a discussion in which Naveen admits that he, like Jay, dreams of having a big Indian wedding. Now, Jay, who has no family of his own, must meet the Gavaskars–Naveen’s family. This causes a collision between the family, Jay–who has his own insecurities–and Naveen, caught between who he is with his family and who he is outside of it. After comic misunderstandings, frank fights, and emotional revelations, the family falls apart, questioning everything. Naveen and Jay’s hard-won love makes each of the Gavaskars face the reality of their own relationships. And through a sweetly woven reconciliation, they come together again to plan Naveen and Jay’s own big, Indian wedding.

The Penguin Lessons
“…an engaging delight from start to finish.” – The Hollywood Reporter

Inspired by the true story of a disillusioned Englishman who went to work in a school in Argentina in 1976. Expecting an easy ride, Tom discovers a divided nation and a class of unteachable students. However, after he rescues a penguin from an oil-slicked beach, his life is turned upside-down.

A Double Life
On May 17, we will host award-winning Director Catherine Masud in-person for a post-film conversation that explores the film through the framework of legal activism. The main subject of this documentary, Stephen Bingham, will also attend this discussion (virtually). 

A Double Life unveils the gripping true story of Stephen Bingham, a lawyer accused of passing a gun to prisoners’ rights leader George Jackson in 1971. Forced into a life on the run, Bingham spends 13 years underground, eluding capture while fiercely determined to clear his name.

Universal Language
“It is as far from the commercial mainstream as narrative filmmaking gets, but for connoisseurs of the poetic bizarre, it has its very real enchantments.” – Washington Post
“A wholly original fusion of Iranian cinema and esoteric gags about the banality of life in Winnipeg, it’s a wholly original conceit from start to finish, and simultaneously one of the most unexpectedly funny and poignant films I’ve seen in recent memory.” – Paste Magazine
“There is no single category that you can slot Rankin’s mix of a wink, a nudge and an embrace into, so we guess “lo-fi masterpiece” will have to do…” – Rolling Stone

96% on Rotten Tomatoes

In a mysterious and surreal interzone somewhere between Tehran and Winnipeg, the lives of multiple characters interweave in surprising and mysterious ways. Gradeschoolers Negin and Nazgol find a sum of money frozen in the winter ice and try to claim it. Meanwhile, Massoud leads a group of increasingly befuddled tourists through the monuments and historic sites of Winnipeg. Matthew quits his meaningless job in a Québecois government office and sets out on an enigmatic journey to visit his mother. Space, time and personal identities crossfade, interweave and echo into a surreal comedy of misdirection.

In Farsi and French with English subtitles.

Secret Mall Apartment (Screenings & Conversations)

 

On Saturday, May 3, we will host director Jeremy Workman, Tape Artist Michael Townsend (one of the main subjects of the documentary) and AS220 co-founder and artist Umberto Crenca for a special conversation after the 7:00 pm screening. 
On Tuesday, May 6, we will host Taneisha Duggan (City of Hartford Director of Arts, Culture, and Entertainment) and Jeff Aucker (Head of Development Services) for a special conversation after the 7:00 pm screening. 

We will be playing this movie every day from Friday, May 2 to Thursday, May 8. Tickets are available for all other showtimes here.

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“Compelling…. Jeremy Workman’s documentary looks back at a project that may sound like a joke but had serious underpinnings.” -Alissa Wilkinson, New York Times

“Upon first glance, Jeremy Workman’s Secret Mall Apartment tells a bizarre story about artists who created and lived in an apartment in their local mall. But at its core, the film offers unique insights into gentrification, consumerism, and the impermanence of art.” – The Austin Chronicle

“A hugely entertaining and insightful doc about issues/art that will force you to think while you laugh.” – Ken Burns

100% on Rotten Tomatoes

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Imagine living rent-free in a mall for four years—hidden in plain sight, just beyond the food court. That’s what a group of artists pulled off in the early 2000s. Director Jeremy Workman brings their astonishing true story to the screen in Secret Mall Apartment.

Workman—an Emmy-nominated, Academy Award-shortlisted, SXWS Jury Grand Prize-winning director and filmmaker—has edited multiple Oscar montages and Lifetime Achievements tributes and has featured some of his films on Netflix.

Produced by actor and fellow filmmaker Jesse Eisenberg, Secret Mall Apartment chronicles the covert creation of a fully functional living space inside a Rhode Island mall, a subversive experiment in urban squatting and artistic rebellion.

 

Mickey 17
“As a testament to the human spirit, Mickey 17 is audacious and over the top in all the right ways.” Chicago Reader
“(Robert) Pattinson’s malleable performances as two warring Mickeys gracefully complement Bong’s playful sensibilities to make “Mickey 17” one of the most galvanizing cinematic experiences this year.” – Salon.com

Adapted from a sci-fi novel Mickey7 by Edward Ashton, directed by Bong Joon-ho (of Oscar-winning Parasite), Mickey 17 stars Robert Pattinson as an “expendable” – a disposable crew member on a space mission, selected for dangerous tasks because his body can be reprinted if he dies, with his memories largely intact. With one regeneration, though, things go very wrong.

The Friend
“…witty, wise, and warm character study.” – Indiewire
“Watts finds another rich vein of emotion to dramatize with delicacy, humor and intelligent vulnerability.” – LA Times
“The work Watts and Murray do […] is both emotionally raw and acutely thoughtful, rife with specificity. It’s career-high stuff.” – RogerEbert.com

83% on Rotten Tomatoes

Writer and teacher Iris (Naomi Watts) finds her comfortable, solitary New York life thrown into disarray after her closest friend and mentor (Bill Murray) dies suddenly and bequeaths her his beloved 150 lb. Great Dane. The regal yet intractable beast, named Apollo, immediately creates practical problems for Iris, from furniture destruction to eviction notices, as well as more existential ones, his looming presence constantly reminding her of her friend’s problematic choices in both life and death. Yet, as Iris finds herself unexpectedly bonding with the animal, she begins to come to terms with her past, her lost friend, and her own creative inner life.

Eephus
NYT Critics Pick – a “funny, elegiac feature directorial debut” from Carson Lund.
“Carson Lund treats the power of a shared interest with profound, elegiac empathy.” – Slant Magazine

100% on Rotten Tomatoes

As an imminent construction project looms over their beloved small-town baseball field, a pair of New England Sunday league teams face off for the last time over the course of a day. Tensions flare up and ceremonial laughs are shared as an era of camaraderie and escapism fades into an uncertain future.

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl
“Nyoni and cinematographer David Gallego conjure up dreams and drama with equal ease and effectiveness.” – RogerEbert.com
“Nyoni’s embrace of the absurd, as well as her seamless use of symbolic references and the depiction of traditional rituals, showcase her impressive storytelling talent.” – Boston Globe
“…vital film with a distinct personality and playfulness that enriches the material.” – Deep Focus Review

100% on Rotten Tomatoes

From A24, the studio behind MOONLIGHT, LADY BIRD, EX MACHINA, THE WITCH, EIGHTH GRADE, HEREDITARY and more.

On an empty road in the middle of the night, Shula stumbles across the body of her uncle. As funeral proceedings begin around them, she and her cousins bring to light the buried secrets of their middle-class Zambian family, in filmmaker Rungano Nyoni’s surreal and vibrant reckoning with the lies we tell ourselves.

Observer: Screening + Experience Pairing
“One red square can change your entire perception of the world.” – Science.org
In his new documentary, OBSERVER, filmmaker Ian Cheney (THE ARC OF OBLIVION, KING CORN, THE SEARCH FOR GENERAL TSO, THE CITY DARK) embarks on an experiment in which he brings a series of keen eyed observers – scientists, artists, a hunter – to a range of locations around the world, often without telling them where they are going, and asks them simply to describe what they see.
What unfolds is a deep exploration and celebration of the power of observation: What happens when you find new ways to sense and perceive the world around you?
With customary whimsy and a small painted red square that Cheney brings on every journey, the film is an invitation for viewers to find beauty and meaning in even the most quotidian of locales.

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You’re invited to join us on Sunday, April 27, 12:30 pm for a one-of-a-kind screening and experience. We will host the screening in our cinema, and Trinity College Professor Susan Masino will lead an outdoor activity after the movie.  Event toolkits will be provided for ticket holders who purchased the full experience package. A bus will transport the group to an offsite location near the UConn School of Law campus.

Real Art Ways is one of several select theaters participating in this screening and event series nationwide. We are thrilled to offer this experience, especially as it coincides with the 2025 City Nature Challenge!

We are proudly presenting this screening as part of Science on Screen, an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre, in partnership with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Science on Screen® is a film series that features “creative pairings of classic, cult, and documentary films with lively introductions by notable figures from the world of science, technology, and medicine.”

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ABOUT IAN CHENEY (DIRECTOR)

Ian Cheney received bachelor’s & master’s degrees from Yale and an MFA in filmmaking from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. His twelve feature-length films prior to Observer (2025) include King Corn (2007), The City Dark (2010), The Search for General Tso (2014), The Most Unknown (2018), Picture a Scientist (2020), The Arc of Oblivion (2023), and  Shelf Life (2024). He has helmed Wicked Delicate Films since 2003.

A former MacDowell Fellow & Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT, he has taught at Yale College and the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Italy, but is not a very focused teacher. He lives in Maine.

IAN CHENEY FILMOGRAPHY

King Corn (2007), The Greening of Southie (2008), Big River (2009), Truck Farm (2010),  The City Dark (2011), World Fair (2012), The Melungeons (2013), The Search for General Tso (2014), Moon Mirrors (2015), Bluespace (2015), The Smog of the Sea (2016), The Measure of a Fog (2017), The Most Unknown (2018), The Emoji Story (2019), Thirteen Ways (2019), Picture a Scientist (2020), The Long Coast (2020), The Arc of Oblivion (2023), Shelf Life (2024), Observer (2025)

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Learn more about Observer: https://www.observerfilm.org/

Meet the Observers

 

The Substance
“For my money, one of the best things you can do this season is to run to see the French director Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance while it is still playing on the big screen.” – The New Yorker
“Extraordinary… This is daring and stylish.” – FilmWeek (KPCC/NPR Los Angeles)
“Demi Moore seizes the role of her lifetime as a movie star turned fitness guru who gets axed for committing the cardinal sin of aging. You’ve never seen anything like the body horrors in Coralie Fargeat’s gory and glorious takedown of youth obsession.” – ABC News

Have you ever dreamt of a better version of yourself? You, only better in every way. You should try this new product, it’s called The Substance. IT CHANGED MY LIFE. With The Substance, you can generate another you: younger, more beautiful, more perfect. You just have to share time — one week for one, one week for the other. A perfect balance of seven days each… Easy right? If you respect the balance… What could possibly go wrong?

No Other Land
One of 2024’s most decorated documentaries. “It won dozens of awards from critics, juries and audiences on several continents; most of the major international film festivals programmed it; and, now it’s an Oscar nominee for best documentary feature. Its subject — the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — couldn’t be more consequential, and its approach, which includes a directorial team of two Israelis and two Palestinians, feels genuinely daring and bold.” – NYT
“Film distributors who care about the future of the medium, not to mention the world, would do well to display a fraction of the bravery shown by this collective of young activist filmmakers.” – Slate
““No Other Land” is a piece of resistance but also humanization.” – Associated Press

100% on Rotten Tomatoes

Best Documentary Feature Winner at the 97th Academy Awards

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You’re invited to watch a pre-recorded Q&A with the filmmakers after select screenings of No Other Land – it will be screened in our Video Gallery after the movie.

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Basel Adra, a young Palestinian activist from Masafer Yatta, has been fighting his community’s mass expulsion by the Israeli occupation since childhood. Basel documents the gradual erasure of Masafer Yatta, as soldiers destroy the homes of families – the largest single act of forced transfer ever carried out in the occupied West Bank. He crosses paths with Yuval, an Israeli journalist who joins his struggle. For over half a decade, they fight against the expulsion while growing closer. The extreme inequality between them haunts their complex bond: Basel, living under a brutal military occupation, and Yuval, unrestricted and free.

This film, by a Palestinian-Israeli collective of four young activists, was co-created during the darkest, most terrifying times in the region as an act of creative resistance to Apartheid and a search for a path toward equality and justice.

(In Arabic & Hebrew with subtitles)

Read more about the film here.

I’m Still Here
“It’s one measure of Latin America’s arduous history that it has spawned so many books and movies about dictatorship… What they share is the awareness that history hurts. Few films have shown this with more delicate intelligence than I’m Still Here.” – NPR
“Torres’s performance here is a marvel of expressive restraint, every glance merging horrified disbelief and meticulous self-control.” – The New Yorker
““I’m Still Here” is one of the best films I’ve ever seen about the power of family.” – Chicago Sun-Times

97% on Rotten Tomatoes

Winner of Best International Feature at the 97th Academy Awards

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The real-life story of Eunice Paiva (Fernanda Torres), whose terrifying experience of sequestration and loss during Brazil’s military dictatorship transformed her into an activist, lawyer, and hero. Based on Marcelo Rubens Paiva’s memoir, I’m Still Here transports us to Rio de Janeiro in the early 1970s when Brazil’s dictatorship sought to exert its authority through detentions and disappearances. The latest from Walter Salles, director of the Oscar-nominated Central Station and the Oscar-winning The Motorcycle Diaries, focuses on Eunice Paiva, whose terrifying experiences transformed her into a national hero.

Nathan-ism
This screening is part of the Phyllis Hoffman Hartford Jewish Film Festival.
Post-screening, there will be a “Reel Talk” with Elan Golod (Director/Editor), Rachel Spiegel Gerstein (Wadsworth Art Historian and Director of Jewish Arts & Culture Research Project), and Rhonda Heisler (Mosaic Fine Artist and Phyllis Hoffman Hartford Jewish Film Festival Committee Member). 
Sunday, March 9 I 3:00 PM
$15 General Admission (not including fees)

Please purchase your tickets through the Mandell JCC of Greater Hartford website.

Advance tickets: https://www.tix.com/ticket-sales/mandelljcc/2172/event/1408572

This event is sponsored by the Wadsworth and Hartford Marriot Downtown.


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Synopsis:

At the end of World War II, Nathan Hilu, the son of Syrian Jewish immigrants to New York, received a life-changing assignment from the U.S. Army: to guard the top Nazi war criminals at the Nuremberg trials. This experience fueled a lifetime of artistic inspiration for Nathan, a virtually unknown “outsider artist,” who spent the next 70 years obsessively creating a visual narrative from his memories. But what happens when those memories take on a life of their own?

“Nathan-ism” explores Nathan’s relationship with his own stories and his compulsion to share them with a world that doesn’t always listen.

Becoming Led Zeppelin
“If you’re someone who treasures the music of Led Zeppelin more than you’re interested in the legend—or the gossip, or the dirt, or whatever you want to call it—of Led Zeppelin, this movie is absolutely for you.” – RogerEbert.com

Interviews, performances and never-before-seen footage provide insight into the origins of Led Zeppelin and their meteoric rise to musical stardom.

2025 Oscar Nominated Shorts – Documentary
For the 20th consecutive year, ShortsTV presents the Oscar-Nominated Short Films!

With all three categories – Animated, Live Action and Documentary – this is your chance to predict the winners and have the edge in your Oscar pool)!

An annual hit with audiences around the world, don’t miss this year’s selection of shorts. The Academy Awards take place on Sunday, March 2nd. Mark your calendar to watch and see who wins!

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2025 DOCUMENTARY PROGRAM

 

Instruments of a Beating Heart 

Dir. Ema Ryan Yamazaki / Japan / 23 min / in Japanese with English subtitles

A New York Times Op-Docs, first graders in a Tokyo public elementary school are presented with a challenge for the final semester: to form an orchestra and perform “Ode to Joy” at a school ceremony.

Incident

Dir. Bill Morrison / USA / 30 min

Through a montage of surveillance and police body-camera footage, a reconstruction of a deadly shooting by a Chicago police officer becomes an investigation into how a narrative begins to take shape in the aftermath.

 

I Am Ready, Warden

Dir. Smriti Mundhra / USA / 37 min

John Henry Ramirez is convicted of murder and sentenced to death in the state of Texas. During his incarceration, Ramirez tries to reach out to his victim’s son while also preparing to say goodbye to his family.

 

The Only Girl in the Orchestra 

Dir. Molly O’Brien / USA / 34 min

Trailblazing double bassist Orin O’Brien was never one to seek the spotlight, but when Leonard Bernstein hired her in 1966 as the first female musician in the New York Philharmonic, she inevitably became the focus of media attention and, ultimately, one of the most renowned musicians of a generation.

 

Death By Numbers

Dir. Kim A. Snyder / USA / 33 min 

Four years after being shot with an AR-15 in her high school, Samantha Fuentes reckons with existential questions of hatred and justice as she prepares to confront her shooter.

2025 Oscar Nominated Shorts – Animated
For the 20th consecutive year, ShortsTV presents the Oscar-Nominated Short Films!

With all three categories – Animated, Live Action and Documentary – this is your chance to predict the winners and have the edge in your Oscar pool)!

An annual hit with audiences around the world, don’t miss this year’s selection of shorts. The Academy Awards take place on Sunday, March 2nd. Mark your calendar to watch and see who wins!

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2025 ANIMATED PROGRAM

 

Magic Candies 

Dir. Daisuke Nishio / Japan / 21 min / in Japanese with English subtitles

The other kids at the park never ask Dong-Dong to play. But he’s fine just playing marbles on his own. One day he goes out in search of new marbles, but ends up buying a bag of colorful, marble-shaped candies instead. But the first time he pops one of them into his mouth, he’s astonished to hear his old sofa start talking to him! For the next few minutes, until the candy melts away, he has the most unexpected and amazing conversation of his life. Realizing that these are no ordinary candies, Dong- Dong looks at the rest of colorful sweets. Who else will he be able to talk to, and what else will he learn, through these magic candies?

 

In the Shadow of the Cypress 

Dirs. Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi / Iran / 20 min

Living in a house by the sea with his daughter, a former captain who has post-traumatic stress disorder leads a tough and secluded life.

 

Yuck! 

Dirs. Loïc Espuche / France / 13 min / in French with English subtitles

Yuck! Adults kiss each other on the mouth, and children find it disgusting! What’s more, you can see it from afar: when people are about to kiss, their lips become all pink and shiny. Little Léo makes jokes about it, as do the other kids at the summer camp. But he has a secret he won’t tell his friends: his own mouth has actually begun glistening. And, in reality, Léo desperately wants to give kissing a try.

Please Note: The following films include nudity, and may not be appropriate for audiences under 14 years old.

 

Wander to Wonder 

Dir. Nina Gantz / Netherlands, Belgium, France, & United Kingdom / 14 min

Mary, Billybud, and Fumbleton are three tiny humans who star in a kids’ TV Series called “Wander to Wonder”. After the creator dies, they are left alone in the studio. Struggling to find enough to eat, they continue to make increasingly strange episodes for their fans.

 

Beautiful Men  

Dir. Nicolas Keppens / Belgium, France, & Netherlands / 18 min / in Flemish, Dutch, Turkish, and English with English subtitles

Three balding brothers travel to Istanbul to get a hair transplant. Stuck with each other in a hotel far from home, their insecurities grow faster than their hair.

2025 Oscar Nominated Shorts – Live Action
For the 20th consecutive year, ShortsTV presents the Oscar-Nominated Short Films!

With all three categories – Animated, Live Action and Documentary – this is your chance to predict the winners and have the edge in your Oscar pool)!

An annual hit with audiences around the world, don’t miss this year’s selection of shorts. The Academy Awards take place on Sunday, March 2nd. Mark your calendar to watch and see who wins!

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2025 LIVE ACTION PROGRAM

The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent

Dir. Nebojsa Slijepcevic / Croatia / 14 min / in Croatian with English subtitles

1993, Bosnia and Herzegovina, a passenger train is stopped by paramilitary forces in an ethnic cleansing operation. As they haul off innocent civilians, only one man out of 500 passengers dares to stand up to them.

Anuja  

Dir. Adam J. Graves / USA / 22 min / in Hindi with English subtitles

Anuja tells the story of a gifted nine-year-old girl who, alongside her sister Palak, faces a life-changing opportunity that tests their bond and mirrors the struggles of girls worldwide.

I’m Not a Robot  

Dir. Victoria Warmerdam / Belgium & Netherlands / 22 min / in Dutch with English subtitles

After repeatedly failing Captcha tests, music producer Lara spirals into obsession, haunted by the disturbing question of whether she might be a robot.

A Lien  

Dirs. David Cutler-Kreutz & Sam Cutler-Kreutz / USA / 15 min

A young couple face up to and deal with a dangerous immigration process.

The Last Ranger

Dir. Cindy Lee / South Africa / 28 min / in Xhosa with English subtitles

When young Litha is introduced to the magic of a game reserve by the last remaining ranger, they are ambushed by poachers. In the ensuing battle to save the rhinos, Litha discovers a terrible secret.