The Automat

Currently raising funds to support upcoming PBS broadcasts, The Automat which premiered at the 2021 Telluride Film Festival and was nominated for four 2022 Critics Choice Awards tells the 100-year story of the iconic restaurant chain Horn & Hardart, where generations of Americans ate and drank coffee together at communal tables. From the perspective of former customers entertainer Mel Brooks, Starbucks founder Howard Schultz, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Secretary of State Colin Powell, the Horns, the Hardarts, and key employees - we watch a business climb to its peak success and then grapple with fast food in a forever changed America. The film featured an original new song written and performed by Mel Brooks, "At the Automat."