AFI FEST sets Apple’s ‘The Banker’ as Closing Night Film

Erik Anderson October 3, 2019

The Apple film, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Anthony Mackie, set as Closing Night Film for 33rd Edition of AFI FEST

The 33rd edition of AFI FEST presented by Audi will close with the World Premiere of Apple’s new film The Banker, directed by George Nolfi (The Adjustment Bureau) on Thursday, November 21 at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles.

Based on a true story, The Banker stars Anthony Mackie and Samuel L. Jackson as two African American entrepreneurs who attempt to circumvent the racial limitations of the 1950s and quietly provide housing loans to the black community in Jim Crow Texas. Jackson and Mackie have reunited for the film after starring in Marvel’s Avengers franchise together.

The Banker joins a remarkable group of films being released this year that openly confront centuries of racism and injustice in our country, while celebrating the brave individuals whose activism has created real change.
Michael Lumpkin, Director of AFI Festivals

The Banker joins recently announced Opening Night film Queen & Slim, directed by AFI alumna Melina Matsoukas (Class of 2005), which also tackles institutionalized racism in America, in the festival lineup.

About the Film

Based on a true story, The Banker centers on revolutionary businessmen Bernard Garrett (Anthony Mackie) and Joe Morris (Samuel L. Jackson), who devise an audacious and risky plan to take on the racist establishment of the 1960s by helping other African Americans pursue the American dream. Along with Garrett’s wife Eunice (Nia Long), they train a working class white man, Matt Steiner (Nicholas Hoult), to pose as the rich and privileged face of their burgeoning real estate and banking empire — while Garrett and Morris pose as a janitor and a chauffeur. Their success ultimately draws the attention of the federal government, which threatens everything the four have built. The drama is directed by George Nolfi and produced by Joe Viertel. Brad Feinstein produced under his Romulus Entertainment banner, alongside producers Nolfi, Nnamdi Asomugha, Jonathan Baker, David Lewis Smith and Anthony Mackie. The executive producers are Joseph F. Ingrassia, Samuel L. Jackson, Will Greenfield, David Gendron and Ali Jazayeri. The Banker is written by Niceole Levy, George Nolfi, David Lewis Smith and Stan Younger from a story by David Lewis Smith, Stan Younger and Brad Caleb Kane.

The Banker opens in theaters on December 6, 2019, before it debuts on Apple TV+, a new home for the world’s most creative storytellers in January 2020.

AFI FEST 2019 takes place November 14-21, 2019, at historic theaters in Los Angeles. Screenings, Galas and other events will be held at the TCL Chinese Theatre, the TCL Chinese 6 Theatres and the Hollywood Roosevelt. The full festival lineup and schedule will be unveiled later this month.

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.