The Automat
Genres
Overview
The 100-year story of the iconic restaurant chain Horn & Hardart, the inspiration for Starbucks, where generations of Americans ate and drank coffee together at communal tables. From the perspective of former customers, we watch a business climb to its peak success and then grapple with fast food in a forever changed America.
Details
Budget
$0
Revenue
$0
Runtime
79 min
Release Date
2021-09-02
Status
Released
Original Language
English
Vote Count
18
Vote Average
7
Mel Brooks
Self
John W. Romas
Self
Carl Reiner
Self
Krystyna Romas
Self
Alec Shuldiner
Self
Wilson Goode
Self
Elliott Gould
Self
Howard Schultz
Self
Norris Horn
Self
Steve Stollman
Self
Roy Rosenbaum
Self
Marianne Hardart
Self
Lorraine Diehl
Self
Lisa Keller
Self
Edwin K. Daly Jr.
Self
Bill Romas
Self
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Self
Colin Powell
Self
Paul Hardart
Self
Apache Ramos
Self
Ron Barrett
Self
6.8
Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story
We all love food. As a society, we devour countless cooking shows, culinary magazines and foodie blogs. So how could we possibly be throwing nearly 50% of it in the trash? Filmmakers and food lovers Jen and Grant dive into the issue of waste from farm, through retail, all the way to the back of their own fridge. After catching a glimpse of the billions of dollars of good food that is tossed each year in North America, they pledge to quit grocery shopping and survive only on discarded food. What they find is truly shocking.
2014-04-27 | en
0.0
All Riders
The battle for accessibility in New York City Transit told by those fighting it. Less than a quarter of stations in the city's sprawling subway system are accessible to people with disabilities and those that need elevators. This film takes you on the frontlines of the disability rights movement featuring the perspectives of activists, local and state legislators, transit advocates and MTA officials.
2021-01-28 | en
6.0
Marcel Duchamp: The Art of the Possible
A remarkable walk through the life and work of the French artist Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968), one of the most important creators of the 20th century, revolutionary of arts, aesthetics and pop culture.
2020-10-23 | en
4.0
Adam Sandler: Funny Guy
Adam remains a consistent favorite among fans who are comforted that they will always have a good time. Get the inside story on this fascinating actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, husband, father, and forever FUNNY GUY.
2020-07-01 | en
9.5
The Rise & Fall of Penn Station
In 1910, the Pennsylvania Railroad successfully accomplished the enormous engineering feat of building tunnels under New York City's Hudson and East Rivers, connecting the railroad to New York and New England, knitting together the entire eastern half of the United States. The tunnels terminated in what was one of the greatest architectural achievements of its time, Pennsylvania Station. Penn Station covered nearly eight acres, extended two city blocks, and housed one of the largest public spaces in the world. But just 53 years after the station’s opening, the monumental building that was supposed to last forever, to herald and represent the American Empire, was slated to be destroyed.
2004-02-18 | en
0.0
Peter Hujar's Day
A recently discovered conversation between photographer Peter Hujar and his friend Linda Rosenkrantz in 1974 reveals a glimpse into New York City’s downtown art scene and the personal struggles and epiphanies that define an artist’s life.
2025-07-18 | en
0.0
Remembering Ragtime
Memories from the making of the classic Milos Forman film "Ragtime".
2004-11-16 | en
6.6
Basquiat
The brief life of Jean Michel Basquiat, a world renowned New York street artist struggling with fame, drugs and his identity.
1996-08-09 | en
7.0
Nas: Time Is Illmatic
Time Is Illmatic is a feature length documentary film that delves deep into the making of Nas' 1994 debut album, Illmatic, and the social conditions that influenced its creation.
2014-04-04 | en
7.0
Planet Food: Goa and Manila
Roving foodies Angela May and Bobby Chinn embark on two culinary journeys across Asia. Angela travels to the western coast of India to sample the cuisine and culture of the thriving melting pot that is Goa. Meanwhile, Bobby travels to Manila where he discovers a passionate and humorous people, and their love of food.
2012-02-20 | en
6.6
The Capote Tapes
A portrait of the brilliant American writer Truman Capote (1924-84) and the New York high society of his time.
2021-09-10 | en
4.0
Tales of the American
Seemayer Studios presents a new documentary about the American Hotel in downtown Los Angeles and the Arts District that surrounds it. Since 1979, the American Hotel has been the beating heart of a rich community of artists who began moving into the deserted factory buildings between Alameda and the Los Angeles River.
2017-11-30 | en
6.0
Factory Girl
In the mid-1960s, wealthy debutant Edie Sedgwick meets artist Andy Warhol. She joins Warhol's famous Factory and becomes his muse. Although she seems to have it all, Edie cannot have the love she craves from Andy, and she has an affair with a charismatic musician, who pushes her to seek independence from the artist and the milieu.
2006-12-29 | en
6.4
Me and Orson Welles
New York, 1937. A teenager hired to star in Orson Welles' production of Julius Caesar becomes attracted to a career-driven production assistant.
2008-09-05 | en
7.2
The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson
Describing herself as a 'street queen,' Johnson was a legendary fixture in New York City’s gay ghetto and a tireless voice for LGBT pride since the days of Stonewall, who along with fellow trans icon Sylvia Rivera, founded Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries (S.T.A.R.), a trans activist group based in the heart of NYC’s Greenwich Village. Her death in 1992 was declared a suicide by the NYPD, but friends never accepted that version of events. Structured as a whodunit, with activist Victoria Cruz cast as detective and audience surrogate, The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson celebrates the lasting political legacy of Johnson, while seeking to finally solve the mystery of her unexplained death.
2017-07-27 | en
7.0
Life After People
In this special documentary that inspired a two-season television series, scientists and other experts speculate about what the Earth, animal life, and plant life might be like if, suddenly, humanity no longer existed, as well as the effect humanity's disappearance might have on the artificial aspects of civilization.
2008-01-21 | en
6.9
The Apprentice
A young Donald Trump, eager to make his name as a hungry scion of a wealthy family in 1970s New York, comes under the spell of Roy Cohn, the cutthroat attorney who would help create the Donald Trump we know today. Cohn sees in Trump the perfect protégé—someone with raw ambition, a hunger for success, and a willingness to do whatever it takes to win.
2024-10-09 | en
5.6
Set Fire to the Stars
An aspiring poet in 1950s New York has his ordered world shaken when he embarks on a week-long retreat to save his hell raising hero, Dylan Thomas.
2014-11-07 | en
0.0
Les Alimenteurs
They are everywhere. At home, in the canteen, in restaurants, processed foods fill our plates. Overcome by obesity, diabetes, heart disease, taste dulled by the easy and artificial flavors of gastronomy, the population no longer has a choice. For fifty years, the agri-food industry has been at our table. And she stuffs herself. Indulgence or complacency with regard to this takeover, the authorities only exercise limited and a posteriori control over this mountain of foodstuffs that are too fatty, too sweet, too salty. Unlike the good recipes of our grandmothers, inspection in the back kitchens of these feeders.
2012-01-01 | fr
10.0
Seeds of Change
An organic farmer in Maine sets out to transform the prison food system. Seeds of Change captures the intersecting stories of life-long farmer Mark McBrine and several incarcerated men as they harvest their own meals from a five-acre prison garden unlike any other.
2023-07-08 | en