(light music) - These are the stories that move us, the stories that guide us, and the stories that reflect our community.

Filmed in our neighborhoods and local hunts by those who call the city home.

Atlanta filmmakers are documenting stories that show the life of our city in a way that we could only imagine.

These are the stories that we tell.

This is "Atlanta on Film."

Hi, I'm your host Holly Firfer, and welcome to season two of "Atlanta on Film," a weekly series featuring a collection of films from independent filmmakers in the Atlanta film community.

This series is Atlanta's home for our independent creatives to showcase their work, and it's a chance for us to sit down with them in conversation to discuss their creative process.

Now, before we dive into our first collection of films, let's take a second to get familiar with one of our partners this season, the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival.

It's a 23-day long film festival that was launched in the year 2000 by the Atlanta Regional Office of the American Jewish Committee.

Now, in addition to showcasing world class, international and independent films, the festival also includes conversations with filmmakers, industry luminaries, academics, and also community leaders.

Let's take a look.

- Atlanta Jewish Film Festival enriches the cultural experience in Atlanta.

Atlanta's a very diverse community, and I think that the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival brings out a new side of Atlanta that not a lot of people will get to see every day.

- We are a world class showcase of great international films, but that is really just the beginning.

It's the conversations that happen around these films, the chance to bring audiences of different faith, backgrounds, ethnicities, cultural affiliation to the festival, and interact with these films to be inspired by them, to be challenged by them.

- The mission of the festival is building bridges of understanding through film, so it's not just about Jews in the world.

The films, the discussions are also about history.

They're about how Jews relate to other groups, other religions, other ethnicities.

- Now more than ever, to build a sense of community and to connect with people that maybe have different beliefs and values and experiences than you.

This is a great welcoming, neutral place to come and see films that can touch you on maybe a deep or emotional level.

- It is my pleasure to present to you "Attachment."

(audience cheering) - The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival was founded 24 years ago in the year 2000 by an organization that is our continued partner, and that is American Jewish Committee.

This is an international advocacy organization that wanted to use the power of film and film stories to educate audiences around the topics that they were wrestling with.

And as the festival has grown over the years, it continues to retain that very important mission of building bridges through film, educating through film.

- We are always talking about how we can interact and create events that bring people into dialogue.

I mean, we're Jews.

We like to talk, we like to discuss, and we like to discuss a film and we also like to discuss an issue.

So putting together those kinds of events that occurred during the festival will sometimes have, you have the talk back after the screening, but then you also just have like a free standing conversation about issues raised by a group of films that we've shown.

- Just incredibly, incredibly inspiring and (indistinct) to each and every one of you.

(audience applauding) - I would say probably the most significant thing that we do, and it's an area of overlap, is that the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival every single year highlights important retrospective screenings.

And so our team often consults, gives input, provides information on where to find prints, potentially on what to show.

And additionally, we have a number of people on staff who have a film studies background, historical background who are able to plug into the presentation of these particular screenings.

- It's a cross section of the community.

We have hundreds of people helping to select the films, so we know our film choices reflect the tastes of the community and not just the Jewish community.

- It's a real gift to be able to bring these films from all around the world and showcase them and be able to say to the community, this is a film festival for all audiences.

- The AJFF in 2015 became the world's largest Jewish film festival, which is a fact I love sharing with people, especially outside of Atlanta, because the tentacles the festival has are not just Metro Atlanta, it's not just the Southeast.

It's really got a reach that goes way beyond in the industry and in cinemas in many different countries.

- This phrase in Jewish life, "tikkun olam," to heal the world, repair the world, I think that very much embodies the spirit of the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival.

The films that we are presenting are human stories, personal stories.

It's taking complex issues and making them very human.

That is what art does, that is what filmmaking does.

(bright music) - The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival is a pillar of our community, and I'd love hearing about how they support our city.

And tonight on "Atlanta on Film," we're gonna clown around a little bit and enjoy a tasty slice of life.

But first, let's dig into the local barbecue scene.

Our first film takes us to the Atlanta Kosher Barbecue Festival and Competition.

Now, I know what you're thinking.

Wait, pork, is it kosher?

Well, you're right.

All of this barbecue is anything but pork.

In this documentary, we're gonna see how these pit masters get creative with kosher food and cooking techniques.

So let's take a look at "No Pork On The Fork."

(film reel rolling) (timer beeping) - Three minutes, guys, aim high.

Chicken turn in time, three minutes.

Shalom.

Three minutes chicken turn in time.

Chicken turn in time, three minutes, guys.

Chicken turn in time, three minutes.

Everybody's cool?

You're good.

(bright music) (bright music continues) - Georgia is, to my mind, kind of the buckle of the southern barbecue belt.

So many of the best barbecue places in town have opened in the last 10 years, and a lot of them reflect a much broader cultural backgrounds.

A lot of the barbecue in Atlanta now is influenced by global barbecue cooking, and it involves almost every ethnic strain that makes up America.

- To be a Jewish chef in the South to me is something unique, something a little bit different.

Up where I come from New Jersey and New York, there were a lot of us, and there was a lot of community there.

There's a lot of community here, but there wasn't so many people cooking Jewish food.

You can take a technique, 'cause ultimately, what barbecue is is a technique and style of cooking.

And you can cook Jewish food using barbecue methods for sure.

Pastrami is a style of barbecue.

Obviously, smoked brisket, smoked meat from Canada is a style of barbecue.

Barbecue is not just an American Southern sort of thing.

It transpires nations, it transpires cultures, it's a very big bridge.

- Barbecue Nation was at the Atlanta History Center for 17 months in 2018 and 2019, and it was the most comprehensive exhibition that's ever been done about the history of barbecue in America.

- We realized that barbecue was about place.

We realized that barbecue was about people and traditions, and we sat down and we started to map out the chapters of barbecue in our nation's history.

- One of the things that we wanted to make sure that we did was talk about how barbecue just wasn't a bunch of southern bubbles.

And I'm a southern bubble so I can say that.

That barbecue is much broader and much more diverse and much more representative of America.

So you get into a lot of issues about gender.

Lord knows you get into issues about race, and you get into issues about different ethnicities and their contributions to barbecue, the Germans and the Central Europeans and Texas and all that.

And you certainly get into Jews, and you get into kosher barbecue.

- Barbecue is universal, and kosher barbecue is something that's just totally unique.

- When you think of barbecue in the Southeast, you think of pork and you think of other meats like ribs, and it can be very off-putting to people to who eat kosher.

Kosher barbecue festival gives a lot of Jewish people an opportunity to really get involved in the cooking barbecue scene of Atlanta.

- Our barbecue festival is a Kansas City Barbecue Society style event.

And to have it out of completely 100% beef, chicken, beans, all done under mashgiach supervision by the Atlanta Kosher Commission, it takes a whole different dimension, and people that would never otherwise have any connection with barbecue now have the opportunity.

- We saw the importance and the growth of the Atlanta Kosher Barbecue Festival, and we saw an opportunity to tell a story that many people don't know.

- If you are a male, you must wear a yarmulke in the building.

There are yarmulkes or hats out by the front door.

Please, that's where we're being respectful to God.

So let's keep doing it.

Please be respectful to your competitors.

Yes, you wanna beat them to the ground, but don't take stuff out of their boxes.

Don't take stuff over the supply area over here.

Torah graciously allows us to use our kitchen area to do all the prep on Thursday night.

We lay out a pantry which has the sauce bases, the spices, the onions, the garlic, all the utensils that we've stored for the last year.

Everything for the teams to start putting their rubs together, putting their sauces together.

The mashgiach are wandering around, making sure we're doing everything according to Kashrut Laws, and that's when the party starts.

- Anything you bring in has to be approved by us.

Ingredient-wise, equipment-wise.

We've koshered the stove.

We can use the stove in the kitchen here.

We've covered the tables.

We can work on the tables.

We have three pot sinks that are kosher we can use.

Our main role is ensuring that everything that is prepared and served is kosher.

- Kosher food is- - The animals have been ritually slaughtered.

- All the equipment has to be kosher.

- All the meats were checked and approved by us beforehand.

- We don't mix milk and meat.

- It's gotta be brand new when it's brought in.

We've brought it to the mikvah.

- All the spices, all the seasonings.

- The mikvah is a rainwater bath.

The Torah tells us- - No Waffle House, no McDonald's.

- We only eat certain kinds of animals.

- Anytime we buy a glass or metal vessel- - Approximately 1,000 degrees, 1,100 degrees.

- It needs to be dipped prior to us using it.

Yeah, just a dip, quick dip.

- Quick dip?

- Yep.

There's a new one that's built down the road, so it was easy.

- Why is it important?

- Huh?

- God said so.

- God said so.

That's one reason.

- Other than that, there is no difference between kosher and non-kosher.

- We'll have to be a little bit unfriendly in everything, period.

We'll have to be kosher.

I'm available 24/6.

Figure out which one I'm not available for.

When we have the competition, we have many teams, and they come from all walks of life.

You have a Habad team, you have a Temple Brotherhood team, you have neighborhood guys, you have the police, the fire departments.

We are a community event.

And who better represents the community than the first responders?

- Sandy Springs is a very diverse city, and we have a lot of synagogues, Hebrew schools throughout the city.

We have a fantastic relationship with all those organizations and the Jewish community is such a huge part of our city, and they're fantastic for us.

And so it's a great opportunity for us to get out and interact with the community and kinda show our appreciation for them.

We're just regular guys that like to come out and do fun stuff like this.

- A lot of good fun last year, man.

A lot of fun out there.

Meeting a lot of new people, a lot of friendly people.

So that was a good thing.

- Last things, guys.

Water will be available.

Everybody, please remember turn ins, no garnishes, no decorative displays and turn-in boxes.

You can get DQ'd, everybody.

And no pork.

Yeah, thank you, no pork.

- You're cooking basically to what judges want.

Forget that your Uncle Larry or Aunt Mary told you how to cook a brisket.

Judges want something that's going to be less salty, not oversaturated with sauce.

- There is a tremendous amount of flavor difference from a commodity brisket to a kosher brisket.

They salt the meat, they're removing impurities, they're removing excess moisture, they are concentrating the flavor, and they're pre-seasoning it.

There's some sort of natural salinity happening, and there's some sort of natural intensity to its flavor.

It's a little bit beefier.

- We wanna do a thin layer just come up, just a look.

- This is the one you wanna leave like half inch.

- Half an inch, yeah.

And we've had some teams that have gone to restaurants, hung out with the chefs, see how they're cooking, and talk about what are you guys doing professionally.

- We went to the barbecue place the other day, trying to kind of come up with how we were gonna cut the brisket.

Chris is kind of directing, but we're trying to recreate exactly kind of how we learn, how we prepped.

- Come on, up just a little bit on.

- It doesn't look exactly like, I mean, you look great.

- Kosher barbecue, I feel like, because there's so many rules, you don't have the taste you really wanna put to it.

When it's non-kosher, you can do what you wanna do to it.

I'm having to tweak, certain ideas that I have to make it be an A1 non-kosher taste.

(bright music) - Okay, you wanna go ahead?

- I'm gonna go ahead and put charcoal on around.

I know we can't lie.

- You can't lie to him.

- Don't touch.

- Just make sure you guys go, come out.

- No, no, no, no, no, no.

Please put it there.

Hey, he's talking.

Alex is talking, he's telling us.

- Come out to right here, to the crack of the paper.

- We need one more person.

We're better at cooking than putting up tents.

- Welcome to the seventh annual Atlanta Kosher Barbecue Festival.

(participants cheering) We made it.

Everything's come together.

You guys have almost everything you need.

You're gonna be getting to meet shortly, soon as mashgiach comes.

But I wanna thank you all for participating.

We're looking forward to a really, really amazing day.

In the meantime, I wanna turn it over to Alex, who's done a phenomenal job recruiting you guys, getting everything prepped for you.

(all applauding) - Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Thank you, thank you.

Mashgiachs have to light your fire.

If it goes out, please, please, don't light it yourself.

Have a mashgiach do it.

Now, you can borrow from a friend's grill and bring their coals over.

And also, remember, please do not leave a fire untended.

You cannot just walk away and leave it there.

Yeah, so you're right next to Smokey, wherever Smokey and the Brisketeers.

Well, that's actually, you see that first spot right there?

- Yeah.

- That's not actually a team.

So all I gotta get you is the grills, and I can't get anything else right now.

- All right, awesome.

- Alright, thank you.

Thanks, guys.

Woo!

- So right now, the teams are prepping their tents.

They're getting all set for the meat.

The mashgiach has arrived.

The teams get their meat.

They are gonna prep the last minute stuff, like we haven't given them the ground beef or the chili beans yet.

So they're gonna start working on that.

Around 11 o'clock is when the mashgiach is gonna light the grills.

And folks aren't always familiar with Weber kettles.

So they've gotta get familiar with 'em and get to temperature and then put the meat on.

Then it's a little calm, and people get to relax a little bit, go mingle with each other, taste each other's sauces, imbibe with some friends.

- Oh, this is great.

First of all, we're all good friends.

Second of all, it's a fun experience that you remember forever.

We still have vivid memories of doing this in 2016.

It was fun then because I think a lot of times, when you think about like Jewish food, you think about like a very structured type of environment.

You think about a kosher restaurant.

But here, it's everybody coming from like all walks of life, coming together, cooking it basically our way.

And I think that's actually really touching to see.

- Communities stay strong when they are thicker and make demands of people and make demands of their members.

And this is a pretty demanding and all encompassing thing.

So it's a strong way of maintaining Jewish community.

- [Speaker] The competition is not just a competition.

It's an overall festival.

While it's centered on the various teams competing, the key to our success is how the food vendors come and augment the team food.

We depend on key vendors such as Keith Marks and Keith's Corner Barbecue as a way to not only showcase his barbecue but also to ensure that our patrons have plenty of food.

- We are preparing for the barbecue festival 260 pounds of kosher beef ribs.

These are gonna cook all night.

We're expecting these to be around seven hours to eight hours to cook.

We're gonna have nice tender meat and everybody is going to have a party tomorrow.

- 15 minutes until the pantry closes.

15 minutes until the pantry closes.

15 minutes until the pantry closes.

(soft gentle music) (gentle music continues) - Who are we?

- We are the Brisketeers.

- What's our motto?

- All for brisket and brisket for all.

- What's more Jewish than brisket?

- That's right.

- Yeah?

- I haven't tried barbecuing a matzo ball yet.

You know, maybe.

- We'll smoke 'em next time.

- That's right.

It is competition, yes.

But the reality is, it's just a great community event, because any person, regardless of their adherence to being kosher or not can come and fully partake.

How often do you get to hang out with the policemen and the firemen and and just kinda cut up, and everybody has that one bond.

It's all about the barbecue.

- Before doing this event, I never knew what kosher was.

But I saw some things in stores where they sold kosher, what have you, and never even really cooked it.

But it's kind of fun doing this event.

It's a challenge.

- Are you guys confident this is a winning chicken?

- I think it's, yeah.

Mayor, I think we're good.

You can tell us though.

- Just the right amount of smoke.

- Right amount of smoke.

- And heat.

- [Speaker] Yes.

That's what we wanna hear.

That's what we wanna hear.

- [Mayor] Yeah, I think this is a winner.

- I hope so.

- I gotta see what the police department's doing.

- Don't bother.

- Don't even bother, don't even bother.

- It's always rivalry, if you wanna say with fire and police.

But we have a genuine love for each other with our police departments.

We're not gonna let 'em win.

- (laughs) They can't cook.

All they use is donuts.

(people laughing) I guess.

- The kosher barbecue competition and festival in Atlanta, it's an event that has been promoted and put together by the Hebrew Order of David International.

So there's all these different groups that come together around barbecue, fun music, and hey, food, what can you say?

- Approximately around about 11:35 will be the first turn in.

That'll be chilly.

So the teams will turn in behind me.

It is maddening, because we give them a 10-minute window, five minutes before and five minutes after.

And some of the teams, the adrenaline's go in, they don't watch the clock, and all of a sudden, about a minute, and we've had some less than that'll come running.

And they're trying to beat the turn in.

And unfortunately, if it's beyond that, then it's a DQ - disqualification.

Yes, we have all professional judges, and these are judges that have been members of the Kansas City Barbecue Society, KCBS, or they're both GBA, Georgia Barbecue Association.

They have judged some of 'em 100 plus contest.

- They actually fight for a seat at our festival, because it's so unique and different from anything that they experience, 'cause they've never been exposed to kosher until they come to us.

- All these judges were used to eating pork.

So it's kind of unusual, everything is kosher now.

So we send out the invite, kind of put a little spin on there, "no pork on my fork."

It is a little joke to them.

- So they're looking for the tenderness, they're looking for the smell, they're looking for the taste, they're looking for the doneness, they're looking for the smoke ring and the brisket.

They're looking for the presentation.

They're holding us to a higher standard, which is what the world always does to us.

(laughs) Okay, so we're gonna announce a couple of prizes, a couple of awards, some special presentations for today.

- Tried and true barbecue is something that you don't read in a book.

You learn it from your forebears.

And I think that may be a part of the story and a part of how barbecue and the Jewish community continues to be.

Yet a tradition that you will find at the Kosher Barbecue Festival and in tables across Atlanta and beyond.

- The Atlanta Kosher Barbecue Festival makes me realize that Atlanta's a big city now.

We're talking about a Jewish community that's got hundreds of thousands of people, and it's spread all over Metro Atlanta.

And that's what I think is interesting about kosher barbecue contests and festivals like this one is that there's a much more organized effort now to enjoy this great style of cooking and these flavors and also keep kosher.

- Barbecue is comfort, it is social, it is culture, it is flavor, it is timing, it's love, it's care, it's all the above.

- I have a chapter in my book about how much southerners love barbecue and how deeply emotionally attached southerners are to barbecue.

One of the ones that really moved me the most was the Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper columnist Lewis Grizzard who had heart trouble and died of that heart trouble when he was in his mid 40s.

And when he was in the cardiac unit at Emory, for what turned out to be the last time, some friends brought him some pork barbecue from Sprayberry barbecue in Newnan.

And he wrote this column about having this barbecue and just this rabbit hole of memories that he went down in eating it.

He wrote so movingly about it, and I think one of the reasons it was so moving was you knew this might be the last time he was tasting it.

I could find no better expression of the emotional attachment between southerners and barbecue than what a dying Lewis Grizzard wrote about probably his last barbecue sandwich.

Now, let's eat.

- Yeah, let's eat.

(light music) (bright music) - I'm joined now by filmmaker Jacob Ross.

And your film, "No Pork on a Fork," it was funny, it was interesting, it was exciting.

Tell us a little about it.

- Sure, so "No Pork on the Fork" was a film that we created in 2019.

It is about the kosher barbecue festival here in Atlanta.

And when you hear kosher barbecue that we're talking about earlier, you're like, "What is kosher barbecue?

How can you do that?"

'Cause barbecue is pork.

That's kind of what we think from in the South.

When I heard that there is this festival, I said, "This can be an interesting documentary," just because as a Jewish person from the south, it combines two things that I love.

- There are people there who don't even know what keeping kosher is, what kind of food can we use.

So you've got the organizer explaining to people, you can't do this, you can use this, you can't do this, you have to be done by this time because it's Shabbat.

- Correct.

- So how did you find those rules, the way they're telling everybody who doesn't know to make it inclusive?

That this event is more than just who's got the best barbecue, but this event is more about including the community and teaching the community about what Judaism is about and what our faith is about through our culture and our food?

- Absolutely, yeah.

One thing that really struck out to me was I had an interview with a policeman from Sandy Springs, and I asked him like, "What are you doing here?

Like you're not Jewish, you don't keep kosher."

And he says, "Well, to be honest, I've been a cop at synagogues and Jewish day schools for the past 5 to 10 years.

And it's so important for me to come out and not only protect you guys but also support you guys in our community."

And to me, that said a lot 'cause it was in 2019, but we can say the same thing about today.

Jews don't feel safe right now in this country.

- Made it?

Everything's come together.

- So that kind of opened my eyes to the whole festival.

Like on a lighter note, a kosher meat is much saltier than non-kosher meat because of the kosher reason.

So a lot of the firemen had no idea about this beforehand, and they're like, "Oh, my God, I've been doing barbecue my whole life.

This is gonna be the easiest thing to win."

And they oversalt of the meat 'cause they had no idea that you don't really need to salt kosher meat.

It's already salted.

So that was just a funny kind of thing.

And in terms of the mashgiach, there's a lot of rules, and you don't have to keep all of them, but for this festival, they were incredibly strict, 'cause a lot of orthodox people in Atlanta don't have access to kosher barbecue.

So for them to feel safe and also I guess welcome at this festival, they needed to be as sure as possible that what they were getting was considered kosher, and they didn't have to worry about it.

- I mean, that goes along the line of being inclusive, right?

Not just outside of the religion but also within the religion, saying to everybody, "It doesn't matter what degree you are.

You are welcome here and you can come here and join us."

- Absolutely.

- It's sort of like a seat at the table for everybody.

- Yeah, I think that's a a great way to say it.

It's a seat at the table for everybody.

And at the end of the day, we're all human, and we all love barbecue.

- And it also brings us together with other communities that are not a part of the Jewish community and don't really know much about the community.

Do you feel that it also opens a dialogue there?

- Yeah, absolutely.

In terms of the non-Jewish community, to see the firemen coming out and having a great time laughing, I think they had a bit of a small rivalry with the cops actually.

So it was kind of fun to see the back and forth each year they compete with each other and see who wins the best brisket.

And it was really nice to see that, 'cause I expected just a Jewish festival with just Jewish things, and to see like, no, no, it's a festival for everyone was incredibly special.

And I think we highlighted that in the film, 'cause to me, that was one of the best takeaways just to see the community come together.

- You definitely captured the culture, the spirituality, the religion, and also the connection that food creates, whether it's among Jewish people or those outside the religion.

So thank you for this film.

"No Pork on the Fork" was amazing.

We appreciate you.

- Thank you so much.

(film reel rolling) - What you bring into the world influences everyone and everything around you.

It can send ripples through the lives of others.

In our next film, we meet a young woman who has turned her family's tragedies into love and laughter for all those she meets.

Sit back and enjoy Laura Asherman's "Smile Little Ladybug."

(film reel rolling) (timer beeping) (light dramatic music) - Now, some clowns like to wear a clown nose, and I have a really nice cloud nose that was handmade.

But sometimes, just adding a little paint to me is nice.

But some clowns think that is not the right way that they have to wear the nose.

Sometimes, it's hard to get in the mood to be a character before you get dressed up.

But once you start putting on all the little things, you start feeling it.

You have to kind of transform yourself to feel like you can do it, 'cause I really didn't feel like being a unicorn before it started.

- Oh, my goodness.

Wow.

Do you guys like my butterfly?

- Yes.

- Oh, thank you, thank you.

What are my other favorite books?

- These!

- These?

Ladybugs, very good.

My mom originally said it.

She was like, "Why don't you go by Miss Ladybug?"

And I was like, "That's a good idea."

And then I just said it one day, and it's sort of been what people love to call me.

Mushroom, friend.

- Oh, hello, Ladybug.

- I like that one because (indistinct).

They're in the water (indistinct) (light music) - I've never had anyone say that I was a scary clown.

So that's a good thing.

I feel like clowns get a bad rep these days.

(light music) Just a little bit of paint makes a lady what she ate.

(light music) - Here we have, as our guests this evening, three Jewish clowns.

Now, there are not a lot of Jewish clowns around.

- My name is Classy, I'm a little bit sassy.

I like to swing and I like to sing.

Just call me on the phone and give me a ring, and I'll come do that classy thing.

- Hey.

- And how did you choose that outfit, or do you have more than one outfit?

- Oh, I have lots of outfits.

I have a dress and I have pants and shirts and outfits like these and all different outfits, and I just change all the different all the time.

And sometimes, I've changed my face too.

And I have many different faces and many different noses and many different smiles.

(laughs) - This is like an old clown case that was my mom's, and like she would do clown shows like way back.

And like she would decorate like the children as a clown, like the birthday kid as a clown.

You never see these anymore.

And then she would decorate the kid with like an oversized clown nose.

These old tricks where something in here and then it changes and you close it, something else.

(toy squeaking) Of course like tricks like this, where you're like, "Oh, it's like a green thing."

And then you're like, "Wow."

And this is really bizarre.

- [Interviewer] Do you think that she wanted you to become a clown?

- She's very surprised that I became a clown.

She was like, "You didn't like clowning.

You hated clowning.

I can't believe that you're doing what I used to do.

Or I can't believe that you're walking in my footsteps," 'cause I really didn't like it.

It's true.

My mom being a clown, I felt like it was sort of fake.

I was judgmental of it 'cause I didn't think that my mom was necessarily that happy of a person all the time.

And I felt like it was fake of her to dress up and be happy looking when she wasn't happy.

And I really internalized that and thought a lot about the masks we wear.

- I was born in Frankfurt on Maine, Germany, September 27th, 1926.

My father had a good job.

We had a very nice home.

We lived a good life.

It all changed.

(door creaking) - And I don't know why I didn't stay with the blue hair because that was kind of cool.

You know what I mean?

Most clowns have red or yellow hair and this was blue.

- Oh, that's my old elementary school.

That was so embarrassing.

Oh my god.

- At school, they love me because I brought all the kids goodies.

I was the room mother of her classroom and they wanted- - A clown room mother.

- A clown room mother.

So they wanted to put my classy baskets delivering to all the children.

I would bring all kind of- - That kind of clown at the school.

- Look, she's coming, she's faking.

And that how you got a little bit popular.

- Oh, yeah.

- I was trying to help you- - Being the clown's daughter.

- Okay, all right.

Then I went to all these different schools.

- My mom, when she discovered that she could be celebrated for acting out or acting silly or being the zany person that she was through clowning, she really embraced it.

I think clowning helped her get through things.

And I think that's true for a lot of clowns.

- In 1933, I was in the first grade of public school.

The parents made arrangements of everybody on in the block that we would walk together, because we had to cross two major thoroughfares and didn't have any school buses then, any crossing guards, anything like that.

So we walked together.

And when we got to school, we got in our seats, the teacher said, "Are there any Jews in this class?

Raise your hands."

And I raised my hand proudly and looked around.

There was one other person in the class, was a girl, raised her hand.

The teacher said, "You two, get your things and go home.

Jews are not allowed in public schools in Germany anymore."

The next morning, I was standing by my gate and waited for the group to came by.

And sure enough, the group came by and the leader of the group was my best friend that I played ball with in the empty lot every day.

And he saw me standing at the gate and he says, "What are you looking at, you dirty Jew?"

(dramatic music) - [Andrea] Who want this rainbow.

- [Kid] Me, me, me, me!

- Who want this rainbow?

- Me!

- [Andrea] Al.

Al has the rainbow.

So we're gonna put little circles on your cheeks.

Is that okay?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

And that's gonna like make it look like you have rosy red cheeks.

When I walk into a school with all my colorful clothes and my apron and my bow and everything, like the kids all stop and they look and they wanna know what's gonna happen.

It's like, "Wow."

Like it's exciting and being free to share that excitement.

And I think that's an important thing about clowning.

Let's count backwards.

One, two, three.

Ah!

You don't even have to wear a clown suit or clown face to do that, but I feel like when you embrace the spirit of clowning, you embrace expression and the freedom to feel the emotion and share that.

So you're gonna come up to the front, and you're gonna do that towards the audience.

Can you do that?

You can do it.

- November 9th, 1938, a night that I will never forget.

Now, I was 12 years old now.

They call it Kristallnacht.

And I was there when the stormtroopers came to our house, knocked on the door, standing next to my mother.

When she opened the door and I can see him with his Nazi uniform on, swastika on his arm.

And he came in and pushed her to the floor of the foyer and stepped in the middle of the foyer and says, "Are there any dirty Jews here between the ages of 16 and 60 male?"

Now, I was 12, my brother was 15, my grandfather lived with us, was 64, and my father was 38.

My father came out the back and says, "Here I am."

Grabbed him and took him away.

But my mother said, "If he ever should come back, we gotta get him out of this place immediately, out of this country."

- This is my great-grandmother, and her name is Irene Kohn.

We used to call her nani, and she is the reason we are here today.

On Kristallnacht, my great grandfather was taken from their house- - By the German police.

- By the German on Kristallnacht, and she went down there.

And nani, oh, what are the thing that we remember that Nani would say?

- She would say, "A little.

A little color and a little paint makes a girl what she ate."

- So we came here to this country really with nothing.

And our sponsors helped us get started.

And my father just out of a concentration camp says, "Yeah, we're going down south because they suggested, "Come down to Alabama and learn how to farm."

Never been on a farm before, none of us.

And we lived on this farm, and we learned how to farm.

Every morning at 5:30 when I was 13 years old, I was at the barn milking cows.

By milking in that barn and by going to a segregated school and noticing in the little town of Demopolis, Alabama, which had 5,000 population, 3,000 African Americans and 2,000 white.

And in a barn where I milk cows, where all the employees were black, and some way or another, it instilled me from what I needed to do.

We have a common obligation to make this a better world for the privilege of living on this earth and living in this world.

And we gotta work at it to do that.

We gotta make things happen to make this a better world.

- As a second generation American, I'm so proud to be here with you all today.

My grandfather papa, his influence and his work and social activism always inspired me as a young person.

He always was very much about instilling community service, equality, and creating opportunities for all people.

And he was saying that is what America means to him.

Go to the scarecrow.

- Is it gonna talk?

- Let's go to the scarecrow.

I don't know, maybe you could tell a story about it.

Watch out, watch out.

Will you pick one?

Can you pick a leaf?

You have permission to pick a leaf.

Put it in your hand.

Ah, that smells so good.

I'd say my entire mission in life has been driven by what my grandfather has instilled in me about helping to repair the earth.

It's like, what's my check-in?

Am I helping?

Am I helpful?

Am I helping others?

Am I helping the earth?

Am I helping the bees?

Am I helping this child feel more comfortable?

Sometimes, we can get overwhelmed by these heavy dark things, but all we have to do is shine a light on 'em and just have the right lens.

Maybe put on your heart-shaped glasses, maybe put on your bee glasses.

Maybe put on whatever you need to put on, a clown nose or a clown hat.

But I think there's always other ways of looking at things, other angles, other directions we can take.

Even today, even though he's got dementia, and it's a hard time for him to speak, he'll still start speaking about equality and people and how we have to make the world a better place.

It just will come out of him.

Sometimes, it's hard to hear, but it's still, that's this content he still talks to me about.

- I think it's everybody's mission.

- Everybody's mission?

- Yeah.

To make the world a better place.

It don't happen by itself, I can promise you that.

But to start making the world a better place is a special privilege to a few people.

That's my opinion.

(dramatic music) - And I'm joined by film director and creator Laura Asherman.

And your film "Smile Little Ladybug" is charming.

It's beautiful.

Tell us a little bit about the film.

- Sure.

"Smile Little Ladybug" is a short documentary, an intergenerational story about a clown named Andrea Zoppo who goes by Miss Ladybug, and her mother who is a clown, and her grandfather who is a Holocaust survivor.

So it jumps between their three stories and has, I would say, a very heartwarming and upbeat tone to it.

Tikkun olam is the idea of repairing the world, making the world a better place than you found it.

And so this is something that was really important in Andrea's life and really why she became a clown, an educator, a person who cares deeply about the environment and children.

And this was something that she inherited from her grandfather.

- You have three different voices, three different generations telling the story of tikkun olam, telling the story of making the world a better place.

How were you able to intersperse them so that it had a common thread but made sense through the whole movie?

- I wanted to weave together these three stories, because none them, I felt, really stood alone as being quite as impactful as the three of them together.

Andrea is an amazing person, a friend of mine, someone who is inspiring from the moment you meet her.

But what really stuck out to me about her when I did meet her was just the context in which she was raised.

How often do you meet someone whose mother is a clown who becomes a clown themselves?

And then add on to that, that her grandfather was a living Holocaust survivor made it that it was like the perfect amalgamation of stories and events that made me wanna tell this story.

So I wouldn't necessarily say that I went into it saying, I need to tell the story of tikkun olam, but that is so inherent in everything that Andrea does.

So that was how that came across naturally.

- What did Andrea think of the film?

She's a friend of yours.

I'm sure you've spoken to her about it.

What did she say?

What was her reaction when she saw the film?

- Andrea really enjoyed the film.

Of course, for me, it was important to find a version of this project that she felt good about and felt that she could stand behind and endorse.

They gave me an incredible gift, and I think that moment of recognition that we're both artists and she is allowing me to come in and trusting me enough to come in and tell my version of the story of her and her family.

Three people stories that happened over a course of 100 years.

- Well, you've certainly done that with this film.

Thank you so much for bringing lightness to all of us.

Like you said, in a time that we really need it most.

We appreciate you.

- Yeah, thank you so much for having me.

- You're welcome.

Our final film in this episode is a story about love and loss, community and cake.

Yep, you heard me write - cake.

This documentary is a love letter to a woman who never stopped giving to her family, to her community, and even to strangers.

Her compassion and care were weaved into every fiber of her being.

Now, although she faced heartbreaking loss, she never stopped thinking of others.

She was known around Atlanta for spreading joy and love through food.

Filmmaker Adam Hirsch introduces us to "The Cake Lady."

(film reel rolling) (timer beeping) (dramatic music) - [Brittany] In my grandmother's life, through 89 years of good times and bad, one thing has always remained - cake.

Birthday cakes, wedding cakes, anniversary cakes or cakes, well, just because.

We all know that cake is a sign of a special occasion, one that brings people together to share in the joy of being alive, to laugh, and to love.

I'd be lying if I told you that I knew what it means to grow old or what it's like.

I'm only 25, but I'd like to think that age is counted not only in years but in memories made and stories told.

Our lives are measured in laughs, hugs, and tears.

My grandmother has taught me that these things, these indefinable moments are the currency of life.

They're what makes us rich.

And in the end, what makes us happy.

But don't take it from me.

What do I know?

I'm only 25.

However, I'm here to tell you about someone who does know.

My grandmother, Fay Tenenbaum.

That's her.

Isn't she just adorable?

Here's a picture of us.

She's 89, though you might not know it.

And in my mind, she's the richest person in the world.

She has always been there to say, "Brittany, always do good unto others."

She has been baking her famous pound cakes ever since I can remember.

One of the most vivid memories I have is of her in her kitchen, baking into the wee hours of the night.

These cakes would go to people worthy of receiving them: a neighbor, a close friend, a local firefighter, even the car repairman.

But don't bother asking for the recipe, because she won't tell you.

To her children, she is mom.

To me, my siblings and my cousins, she's grandma.

But to everyone else, she's simply known as "The Cake Lady."

(bright music) - This is a family recipe and we don't give it out, but I make it for everybody.

My daughter says, "If you wanna be on mother's cake list, you breathe."

As long as you breathe, you get on my cake list.

And I'm very lucky my oven takes two cake pan at one time.

So I always make two at a time.

Every day is important like the birthday.

Like I don't believe on mother's day because every day is mother's day.

And when kids think of the parents just one day a year, they take them out for dinner.

I don't go for them, my kids know them.

And it's a birthday every day to me.

It's their birthday and I love them and do what they want.

And you don't have to wait once a year to celebrate.

- What's happening is that my mom is moving into independent living at the Jewish Tower.

And if you look around the house, you can tell we're kind of in the process of doing that.

But the one thing that still remains as a tradition in our family is Friday night dinner.

So you've caught us also in one of the last times we get to have our Friday night dinner.

- Alright, now, we're gonna start with a potato kugel because I wanna make sure it's good.

My daughter wants to videotape everything I make.

- That first night I came for dinner, I had to park way down the street from the house, and you could smell the kugel from way down the street.

It was such an amazing throwback to my childhood when my grandmother used to make kugel, and it smelt just like that.

And I couldn't wait to get inside.

And when I did, oh boy, was there kugel and kugel and kugel and more kugel.

- And that's the whole secret.

I probably made too much kugel.

- My earliest memory is of my mother wearing a smock, and she is in the kitchen and she is cooking and she is talking on the phone and hugging me at the same time.

- Walking into the house and smelling the fried corn and the chicken and potato kugel.

Mother had two meats and five starches.

That's what she had.

When my wife and I were dating and I brought her home for the first time on a Friday night, my mother had fried chicken, fried corn, fried okra, french fries, potato kugel, and candy yams.

So my wife had never had anything like it.

She says, "Don't you have a green vegetable?"

My mother says, "Yeah, we have pickles."

(chuckles) - I think one of the first things that come to my mind is the smell of the house and the smell of my mother's cooking.

And in particular, it's Friday night dinner, because that was the smell that we all look forward to.

It was potato kugel aromatherapy in the house.

- My mother did not teach me how to cook.

If you wanna learn, you learn.

We never did it.

Me and my sisters, mother never taught me how to boil an egg.

But if you wanna do it, you do it.

You try many things, you throw out, but you do it again.

- It was kind of the collective smell of really good food.

And just having everyone in the house and a really warm feel.

On Friday nights, it was just a lot.

- Well, everyone knew Friday night when people drove by, there was no parking space.

And they said, "Well, the Tenenbaums are having Friday night dinner.

And I don't know.

And most people do not have Friday night dinner.

People just don't do it.

But I did it mainly for my husband.

He could just get a lot of knuckles out of it.

And the more people you had, he was happier.

And I really did it for him, I can say.

- It was a little sad when I walked up realizing this was gonna be my last Shabbat there.

- So moving to the Jewish home and I have a living room and dining room, a very small kitchen, and I let you know how it works out.

And like Stacey, my granddaughter says, "Grandma, aren't you sad that you're moving?"

And I said, "Well, it's bittersweet.

It's something you have to do."

If you know what you're doing in advance, you can do it.

But when Susan or Debra, they wanna make Friday night.

When they made it, first of all, it's being catered by you know who?

Me.

So if I have to bring everything to them, what's the point?

And they have to recuperate a week after, days after, and days before.

So what's gonna happen?

How much?

I said, "Forget it, Susan.

I'll do it and leave me alone."

Sleep to me is the biggest waste of time.

I haven't convinced my children.

Whenever they get up, just another 10 minutes, another 10 minutes, they never wanna get up.

So why not get up the first time?

But that's my generation.

There's too much to do to waste your time sleeping.

- If you rest and if you were to lay down for few days- - You know what when 'll rest?

When I'm horizontal, I'll rest for a long time.

This documentary is teaching you something.

My kids want I should rest.

In Jewish, we say the cave where you rest, that means in the ground.

But there's too much to do on this side of the earth.

- It's our version of Shabbat.

We pack it all into Friday night Shabbat dinner.

And she's the reason why we do all of that.

She was the one who started it.

And she's the one who makes the dinner every Friday night no matter what.

(chanting in Hebrew) - It's the people that are there that count.

The food is nothing.

- That was the one time of the week where we all sat down together.

And also, what happened after Friday night dinner was family time.

- Tell me again how Saul used to lay on the couch while you cut the lawn.

(all laughing) Say it aloud.

Make sure- - I did my front lawn with a big hill.

- Oh, my gosh.

- I did, I did.

- Okay.

- We didn't put on no show for you.

This is the way it is every Friday night.

And the kids laugh and joke, and when they go home, "Grandma, we had a great time," and everyone is happy.

- Bye.

- Bye.

- I'm taking a cake today to the body shop.

I've known these people for many, many years.

There's this young kid, he calls me grandma, and they're just nice people.

And they became friends of mine and his mother's dog kisses me and hugs me and I give him cake.

- He's been coming here for over 20 years bringing us cakes.

It's been almost 20 years, right?

- I'm not that old.

(Sung laughs) - I don't know how she does it.

I mean, it's like you gotta bake cakes all day long, right?

- That's right, there's nothing to do.

I just raised four children and worked all the time.

But if you wanna make time, you make time for people that you love and are good to us.

He has two little girls now, and I make little mini cakes for him also.

For they're dear people and I love them and they love me.

- Today, I came over from around the corner from work to help my grandmother with a bunch of stuff that she's getting ready to move.

And the movers are actually here, and the rabbi's actually here to get a bunch of her stuff to take back to his house.

- I raised four children here.

And there's one person here and every drawer's full.

I don't see how I can move to another place.

It's a mess you just can't imagine.

This is all the stuff I accumulated over 60 years.

I got it, my (indistinct).

What it is, I don't know, but it's all going.

Whatever he put goes and here it all is memories.

The one thing they can't take from you is memories.

Come on in.

- Oh, what are we getting?

He's getting it all, come in, come in.

I gave most of my furniture away to rabbis and other people that needed it.

I did not sell nothing.

If you sell it, you get nothing.

And there's so many people here that really need stuff.

- What's unique about my mother is that she's the leader.

She leads us into change.

She's the one who decided it was time to go, and she also set the tone of how it would all be.

- So it's moving day today.

- Yes.

- Today.

- And the sun's shining.

We have a beautiful day.

- God is happy.

- That's why the sun is shining.

- But we are sad.

- Don't be sad.

My kids are worried more than I am.

I'm going to a good place.

- Are you over it?

- No.

- I said, are you over it?

- Over what?

- Are you ready to move?

- I'm ready to move.

Well, let's go in.

- All right.

Here we go.

- It is gonna be hard to drive by that house and not wanna go in there on a Friday night or any other time.

Just the atmosphere that she had created within the walls of that house, it was magical.

- I was on the waiting list maybe two years, and we knew it was gonna happen one day, and then they called.

Either you get on the list, or if you don't take it, you go back on the list.

And you have to face reality.

- Physically moving houses, it makes me sad because I know that that's real life and that's getting older and that's what you do.

- It's almost like the end of a chapter, a chapter in my life.

It was my childhood, it was my home.

It's the only home I've ever known.

- I start to think about my mom not being here.

It's about the most difficult thing.

So when she's deciding to move from her house that she raised her family and that she had her life, it certainly brings up what will come in the future.

- Let me see.

- That's all my stuff.

I couldn't do it without her.

I have the energy but I just don't move that.

The guest said she took all my clothes and loaded it up the station wagon and insisted I stay here, and she will do everything there.

And I stayed here and she hung everything up herself.

I don't see how people do this.

- A new chapter, mom.

- Just pray for my good health.

- I'm praying.

- And now, we're going to my new home, and everything will be well and my family should stay well.

That's all I ask, for good health, okay?

(dramatic music) - People come here to live.

They don't come here to die, but chances are likely, this is gonna be where they live when they die.

So in some ways that's difficult, both for family members and for residents who are aware.

For others, it's a joy.

They say, "I don't wanna go live with my children.

I wanna be someplace that I can still be independent."

(dramatic music) - Hello.

- Hey, mom.

They're here.

- When you get to be a senior citizen, this is what you have to look forward to.

Here's my cereal closet.

And my sister-in-law is the one that did all this for me.

But she did such a good job it looks like a picture.

And this is my living room.

And this is my bedroom.

I hate to see what this looks like.

This is full of everything.

And this is my bathroom, and my sister was coming here to take care of my pots.

I have meat and dairy and we have to find space for it.

I mean, these magnets are my favorite thing.

Course grandchildren are spoiled here.

This is bagels, and I love this and I love hot dogs and this.

But of course, I have to bring all my grandchildren's pictures and put 'em up here.

That comes first.

And then whatever room I have, I'll put my magnets.

God willing, I'll still to bake cake.

I just have to get used to electric oven.

They say everyone does, but I've never had one.

I just hope the cakes come out just as well.

So what can I tell you?

Just pray for my good health is all I ask.

(static) - It's been a very busy last four hours for those working on this particular scene in the Buckhead part of the City of Atlanta.

We note here, Lou, that so far, at nine fatalities in the course of this mass slaying that is the largest number of killings in the City of Atlanta ever.

- Refers to it as a tragedy of massive proportions.

- July 29th, 1999, Allen was killed.

And one of the first people over here after we of course heard the news was Grandma Fay.

And it was really hard to look at her at first, because she was trying to be strong for me and I was trying to be strong for her.

And we were both a mess.

And we both weren't able to do what we knew we should do for each other.

- I still think of him all the time, and you never get over a child.

You know you're gonna lose a spouse one day, but when you lose a child, it's entirely different.

And I think of him all the time.

- In terms of losing my father, I know no parent wants to ever bury their child, and it doesn't matter if they're a young child or they're an older child.

That's the way every parent feels.

And I can't imagine what it's like to lose a child, just like grandma I'm sure can't imagine what it's like to lose a father at such a young age.

- She was really an incredible source of support for me just to be able to, at the end of the day, talk to her about the pressure I felt like I was under, and I could tell her anything.

- Grandma was just a big ball of strength.

And I felt like, I felt like she was the glue and has always been the glue that's really held our family together.

- As long as I've known my mom, she's been resilient.

And I think having that characteristic helped her how to cope with tremendous loss.

- Well, my kids say, "Mother took us through this bad time and mother's so strong," and I don't feel I did anything specifically.

I felt I did what I gotta do lying.

A mother's a mother.

- She'll never get over her heartbreak.

But in spite of that, she moves forward and she thrives and she's vital and she's a model for all the people around her.

- Fay was just an adapter, she's an adjuster.

She has had a lot of loss in her life.

And to lose a child as she did is a dramatic loss.

And yet Fay went on with her life, went on with her grandchildren, her other children, and continued to be the person she always was.

- My father had Alzheimer's for seven years, and he was in the Jewish home for seven years.

And he went down gradually to see the love and the care and affection she had for him all that time made a major impression on the family and especially the children.

- She would go feed him every day, twice a day, many times, most of the time.

And she would talk to him and look into his eyes, as if he understood everything she said.

- I mean, I knew every day I had to go see him.

And I don't know if he recognized me and all the help says he did, but they wanted make me feel good.

But I know when I kissed him, he kissed me back and that's all.

And I was satisfied with him.

- One gentleman who was here, and also, a story I've heard about someone else saying, "I visit my wife every day, not because she knows who I am, but 'cause I know who she is."

That's, I think, the way it was with Fay.

- It's a stupid thing to say, if I had to have a day right now, I would still want my husband.

And I would've liked to have had a 50th anniversary, but it wasn't in the plan.

But good years, a Rabbi Mossman told us, when you have good years of marriage, you can double it.

And I had good years.

So thank God for what you have, and I wish it was more.

- Fay had an amazing ability to be there for her husband, to recognize his needs, and still have her life.

She still worked, she still had all her grandchildren, she still had her Shabbat dinners.

She still baked her cakes and shared them with everybody.

And Fay became a part of everybody's lives here.

She was very loved and still is.

- I'm taking a cake today to the Sig Samuels.

Everyone in Morningside knows Sig Samuels.

They've been there for many, many years.

There are cleaners all over town, and you pass many cleaners, yet everyone go to Sig Samuels.

Everyone knows them.

They don't even give you a ticket.

How they do it, I'll never know.

Anything I want done now, they'll do it yesterday.

Anything I want, "Whatever you want, Ms.Tenenbaum, whatever you want."

- Delivered by a wonderful person.

Wonderful person.

And from what I understand, she bestows these wonderful cakes on other people, and they feel the same way we did.

- They just became friends that just grew on me.

So I give them a cake too.

- Thanks, Ms. T. - My pleasure, my pleasure.

- The way grandma has transitioned into the tower has been remarkable.

And somebody at the tower told me downstairs in the office, "Your mother hasn't been here long, but we consider her the mayor of the tower now."

- My lifestyle has not changed since I've moved.

I was busy then, I'm busy now.

There's no difference.

- I asked her about how she felt about adjusting, about living there.

And she goes, "Your grandmother moved in to assisted living and she was fine and I'm fine too."

- Fay has not changed.

She's moved in here, adapted, she's sharing her cake, she brings 'em to our bake sales.

She's busy with her life, and that's who she is.

Fay lives her life.

- She gets up at seven o'clock in the morning to go to water aerobics and doesn't come home til three.

- I go to water aerobics in the morning four mornings a week.

I don't feel better doing it.

It's in my mind that you have to do it.

And if you tell your doctor you do water aerobics, he says, "Good, do exercise."

So you don't wanna brush your teeth in the morning.

You do it because you have to do it.

And I know I get up early in the morning and I go to water aerobics at eight o'clock in the morning.

And once I do that, the day is started and I did well.

- Physically, to keep up a house.

It was too much.

And so I think that there was definite relief in moving into a smaller place.

There are ways that she's being taken care of.

They have people there that will help her.

And I think that there is definitely comfort for her there.

- My kids are much happier that I'm here, that someone is here all the time.

Like my daughter couldn't find me the other night, and she called downstairs in the office.

She said, "Come look at me."

But if they know I have somebody here, they don't worry.

- People age as they've always been as personalities.

If someone is feisty, they're gonna be feisty when they're old.

If someone is positive, they're gonna be positive when they're old.

Fay has always been positive.

She's always been the matriarch of the family.

She's always been a role model for her entire family.

That doesn't change.

That's who she is.

- It is consistent of how she is living her life in her later years, that she moves forward into new situations and she adapts.

- Today, I'm taking a cake to the fire department.

Now that I moved, I don't go as often as I used to.

The fire department was the first recipient of my cake.

And it all started with 9/11.

And everyone remembers 9/11, but the way you go, after a month, a year or two, you just don't think about it.

And I had a son that passed away that year, and I always felt sorry for the police, that you don't get enough recognition and enough pay.

I mean, you give your life all the time.

You're on a 24-hour call and people forget, human nature.

For the first day, everyone remembers, but I still remember 9/11.

Thousands of families were affected.

I think you're doing a wonderful job.

You don't get enough pay and you don't get enough time off.

What can I tell you, things are bad.

- Yeah.

- If he was stuck, it'd be worse.

- Yeah, right.

- Sad to say a lot of time, people come around September 11th for the sad moment to come share the show.

We appreciate it.

But the cake lady, of course, she come weekly.

- We never had a chance to get her name or anything.

And one of the guys just said, "The cake lady brought our cake."

Everybody kind of latched onto that.

- I never knew her name or address or nothing.

I just been here a year, and when I first came, they were like, "The cake lady."

And I'll be upstairs and I hear it.

By the time I come down, she's leaving ready to go.

She don't need no special treatment, don't wanna feel special.

She do it from her heart, not just for extra stuff.

- Sometimes, when I go there, if the trucks are out, I leave it on the bench, and I don't have to say who put it there.

My cake is my signature.

- Food and Jewish culture is very, very important.

And food is love for a lot of people.

And Fay's way of expressing love is to bake cakes and share them with people.

- They just call me the cake lady.

If they see me, "There goes the cake lady."

And I said, "Well, how do you know me?"

"Oh, I've had your cake."

I don't know where I got the reputation, but it just grew on me.

- She is absolutely known as the cake lady around here and has been since her husband was here.

But everybody loves her cakes.

She makes the best pound cakes around, and everyone knows her and loves her.

But it's not just her cakes.

Her cakes are filled with love, and you can taste it.

- Cake means putting a smile on somebody's face, and they're appreciative that someone is thinking of them.

It makes them happy.

And cake is made with tender love and care.

And people want the recipe, and we don't give the recipe.

And people always wanna pay me to make them a cake.

I have never gotten paid for making anybody a cake.

You couldn't pay me for my time.

Either I wanna give it you or forget about 'em.

- She just has a heart that gives.

How many people are affected from my mother's giving?

I think we have no idea.

- She's always thinking about others before she's thinking about herself.

And I think that's a beautiful way to live life.

And I try my best every day, but she's just so naturally good at it.

- And I have to stop doing for everybody.

Comes to term with, grandma, there's a limit.

But I have a lot of people on my list that I have to do for 'em.

It's something in me, I don't know.

(indistinct) - Allen used to say his mother's job was going around town, putting chickens in people's pots.

And he just meant that she goes around all the time doing nice things for people and not even for a thank you.

She doesn't expect a thank you nor did she want one.

- I think a person has to be needed.

That you do something that you put on this earth to do for others.

And when you do for others, you get more pleasure than they get.

But life is too short.

There's no tomorrow.

You have to do everything you wanna do today now.

And when you go to sleep, you can't be begrudging anything.

You have to think, "Well, what am I doing tomorrow?

There's so many things to do."

Just keep busy the whole time.

When I die one day poo poo, I want people to say, "She had a purpose in her life and she did for others and she gave for others.

And that's what kept her happy."

So that should be the worst thing they say about me.

But I don't know where they're gonna get their cake.

(soft gentle music) - We're here with filmmaker Adam Hirsch.

"The Cake Lady," what a charming but a bittersweet film.

First of all, how did you find out about this woman who really is a legend in Atlanta?

- Her granddaughter Brittany reached out to me.

She had this idea for something completely different.

And then she called me back and she's like, "Actually, my grandmother is leaving, moving out of her house that she's been in for over 60 plus years, and this is our final last Shabbat.

Can you at least just film that?"

And that's when I met Fay, the cake lady, for the first time.

I didn't know anything about the cakes.

I didn't know anything about her.

- There's a scene in the film where she goes to the fire station, the firefighters, and they're very excited because the cake lady's coming.

They don't even know her name and she doesn't care.

- That actually was really what turned and made this film a completely different film.

She actually told me, "Come meet me at the fire department.

I wanna give them something."

And I showed up to the fire department, and it was like the scene from "Wizard of Oz," when they show up at the door and they open up and they're like, "Who is it?"

I said, "I'm here with a camera.

I'm with a woman named Fay Tenenbaum.

She has some cakes."

And he goes, "The cake lady?"

Which I had never heard before.

And I'm like, "Yes."

And he goes, "Hold on a second."

Close the little hatch, the door opens, and all of a sudden, all these firemen come out.

They're like, "The cake lady's here."

- And so how did you shift then the film after that scene?

Because it does seem to shift.

When you first see the film, you think, "This is about aging.

This is about moving, transitioning."

And then it became something completely different.

- So after that I go, "Okay, Fay.

Who else do you give cakes to?"

She's like, "Oh."

- The dry cleaner?

- The list, we couldn't even film all these people.

I mean, she literally spent the day making cakes to just deliver to people.

To her, it was just the most simple thing she could do to put a smile on somebody else's face, because at the end of the day, you don't know what people are going through.

Just like people didn't know what she was going through and I didn't know what she had been through.

But to her mind, putting a smile on somebody else's face made her happy.

- And now that you look back, this film was made years ago.

Fay is no longer with us.

So have you had contact with her family?

And does it, now, when you look at this film and everybody in her family looks at this film, does it mean something different now?

Has it taken on a different meaning?

- So I will forever be linked to Fay Tenenbaum.

I'm just gonna say that.

I feel, in many ways, that I'm part of the family.

I feel like I'm her grandson.

Fay passed away a couple months before my daughter was born.

Her name is Ruby Fay.

We named my daughter after Fay.

They have treated me like their family.

And the Tenenbaum family will forever be a special part for me and my family.

So the cake lady will always be with me, and it's really special.

- That's a wonderful story and thank you.

Now, with this film, the cake lady will be with us all.

So we appreciate it.

- Thank you.

- Thank you, Adam.

We appreciate the cake lady.

- Thank you so much.

(film reel rolling) - Wow, we have seen some inspiring films together.

Some made us laugh, some made us cry, but they all made us feel the heart of the Jewish community.

I'm Holly Firfer.

We appreciate you letting us spend some time together and spending some time with Atlanta on Film.

Until next time.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] W-A-B-E.