Category Archives: documentary

Feb10

secret mall apartment.

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Secret Mall Apartment takes you inside the wild true story of a hidden apartment built in a shopping mall.

The 2024 documentary, now streaming on Netflix  revisits the artists who built a secret apartment inside the Providence Place mall in Providence, R.I. The eight Rhode Islanders hung out/lived in the 750-square-foot space on and off for four years, from 2003 to 2007.

The group of artists came up with the plan after real estate developers tore down their artists’ commune about a mile away from what would become the mall. In addition to being a statement against the developers, the space was also used as an art collective for local artists planning projects.

The story went untold for years, but the eight people got together to tell their wild tale in the documentary, Secret Mall Apartment. “This is an insane climb up the cultural ladder — from absolute obscurity to something where so many people have at least the option of seeing it,” they told Boston.com in January 2026.

To document their piece of performance art, they bought cameras from the Radio Shack and filmed their journey.

“The archival footage is just incredible,” Secret Mall Apartment director Jeremy Workman told Columbia University School of the Arts. “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.”

Workman has said that as he worked on this film, he “quickly learned that they created the secret apartment to make a statement against gentrification. They had lost their homes as a result of development, and this was their unique personal way to show developers that they weren’t going anywhere.”

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I was fascinated by their story, where the idea sprang from, and how it grew over time. The things they were able to pull off at the mall and the art they created outside in the world away from the mall were extremely creative and amazing. It’s an unusual documentary that asks the question about what is art and what is real life? The line is often blurry.

‘art hurts. art urges voyages- and it is easier to stay at home.’

-gwendolyn brooks

 

*Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000) was an American poet, author and teacher,  famous for being the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize.

source credits: Boston.com, Dwell Magazine, Rhode Island Monthly

Jun14

“i’m spicy and i’ve got skills.” – pascal siakam.

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( those of you who know me or read me,

know that flamin’ hot cheetos are my fav snack.)

Eva Longoria makes her film directorial debut with “Flamin’ Hot” — a feel-good story of how a Mexican American janitor rose through the ranks at Frito-Lay and was the brains behind the wildly popular and spicy Flamin’ Hot Cheetos corn snack.

“People think it’s about the Flamin’ Hot Cheeto but it’s about the life of Richard Montañez,” Longoria told the Australian television show “Today.”  “He came up with this brilliant idea to put chili on chips for the Hispanic market and today Flamin’ Hot is the No. 1 snack in the world and it’s a multibillion-dollar industry that transcends snacks.”

The comedy-drama biopic distributed by Searchlight Pictures is based on Montañez’s first memoir, “A Boy, a Burrito, and a Cookie: From Janitor to Executive,” that details his humble beginnings from growing up in a migrant labor camp in Southern California and living in a one-bedroom apartment with his parents and 10 siblings to selling drugs on the streets of East Los Angeles, mopping the floors at Frito-Lay’s Rancho Cucamonga plant and building a career that spanned more than 40 years at PepsiCo.

Longoria admitted she was ashamed of not knowing Montañez’s story until she read the script. “I was like, ‘How do I not know this? He’s Mexican American like me. I love Flamin’ Hot.’ So it was like the flavor you knew, but the story you didn’t, and so I was immediately inspired and I thought, ‘Everybody should know this story. There are so many lessons we can learn from his life.”

Jesse Garcia as Richard Montañez in the movie Flamin' Hot.
Jesse Garcia as Richard Montañez in the movie “Flamin’ Hot.”

While Montañez’s story has become an inspirational tale of Latino entrepreneurial success, Frito-Lay disputed the claims that he created the spicy line of Cheetos, calling his version of the story an “urban legend,” and stating that he “was not involved,” according to an investigation by The Los Angeles Times in 2021.

That same year, Montañez reaffirmed his story with his second memoir “Flamin’ Hot: The Incredible True Story of One Man’s Rise from Janitor to Top Executive.”

The film’s producers were informed by Frito-Lay of these allegations in 2019 before production but moved forward with the project. Longoria’s film does include nods to the possibility of the Flamin’ Hot flavor being developed in the Midwest at the same time. Frito-Lay credits Montañez with playing a “key role in accelerating the growth of our Flamin’ Hot Brand,” according to its website

“Flamin’ Hot” is available to stream on Hulu and Disney+.

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“a good spicy challenge strikes a balance between flavour and fear.”

-adam richman

 

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source credit: edwin flores, NBC Latino. Searchlight Pictures

Aug9

change the way you see the world.

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VivanLasAntipodas-DVD-F

what is an antipode?

two places diametrically opposite each other on the earth’s surface.

they are very rare.

what is the shortest route between them?

a straight line through the center of the earth.

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i recently saw ‘vivan las antipodas’

released in 2011

directed by russian documentary maker

victor kossakovsky

who had a radical idea

to visit these places

and shoot four antipodal pairs:

argentina/china
spain/new zealand
chile/russia
botswana/hawaii

he filmed it in a way

that literally

turned the world

upside down

and back again

for 108  meandering minutes

i was blown away

by the beauty

of

the landscapes

the people

the animals

the music

the colors

the contrasts

 the connections

some things are universal

life

death

money

sex

family

friends

community

survival

love

it was

quietly

stunning

and

it was

dizzying.

 

Jun11

I’m in competition with myself and I’m losing. – Roger Waters

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picturehouse dendy cinemas

what do you get when you combine the 1980s, video arcades, the guinness book of world records, human drama, sabotage, corruption, power, cheating, trash-talking, genius, ego, and insanity?

why, you get ‘the king of kong: a fistful of quarters’ of course. one of my all-time favorite documentaries. this eccentric film, released in 2007, features ‘self-proclaimed legend’ in the world of video arcade games, billy mitchell, florida hot sauce magnate and the holder of the ‘donkey kong champion of the world high scoring’ record for 25 years, and the first perfect game scorer in the history of pac-man, as he is challenged by quiet and brilliant unemployed aerospace engineer/now science teacher from washington,  steve wiebe, who has never won a thing in his life.

in this film, their long distance rivalry and ultimate challenge is played out right before our eyes and under the careful watch of walter day, creator of twin galaxies, and online gaming website gatekeeper. what follows is a classic tale of good vs. evil, davy and goliath, sheer will and karma, and the suspense never stops right up until the very last second.

watching this, i spent 79 fascinating minutes glued to the screen, laughing, crying, cheering and yelling, right along with it. and most of all,  i love that it was categorized under ‘sports’ in the documentary world.

film quotes:

Walter Day: This rivalry is among the greatest: the Yankees and Red Sox… Hekyll and Jekyll.

“I wanted to be a hero. I wanted to be the center of attention. I wanted the glory, I wanted the fame. I wanted the pretty girls to come up and say, “Hi, I see that you’re good at Centipede.”

Jillian Wiebe (Steve’s wife) : Work is for people who can’t play video games.

image credit: picturehouse/dendy cinema