Bradley Cooper’s ‘Maestro’ to Close 2023 AFI FEST

The American Film Institute (AFI) announced that Bradley Cooper’s Maestro will close AFI FEST 2023. Maestro chronicles the love story of the lifelong relationship between Leonard Bernstein (Bradley Cooper) and Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein (Carey Mulligan).

A love letter to life and art, Maestro at its core is an emotionally epic portrayal of family and love. The film reunites Cooper with Oscar-nominated cinematographer Matthew Libatique (AFI Class of 1992) and is co-written by Cooper and Oscar winner Josh Singer (Spotlight). Producing alongside Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and Cooper are Fred Berner, Amy Durning and Kristie Macosko Krieger. MAESTRO will screen as the Closing Night Red Carpet Premiere at AFI FEST on Sunday, October 29, 2023, at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles.  

“Maestro displays Bradley Cooper’s symphony of talent with the power of a cymbal crash,” said Bob Gazzale, AFI President and CEO. “It is AFI’s honor to shine a light upon this extraordinary work of art on the festival’s Closing Night.”

As previously announced, the World Premiere of Leave the World Behind, written and directed by Sam Esmail (AFI Class of 2004), will open AFI FEST on October 25. Based on the acclaimed novel of the same name by Rumaan Alam, the highly anticipated apocalyptic thriller stars Academy Award winner Julia Roberts, Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali, Academy Award nominee Ethan Hawke, Myha’la, Farrah Mackenzie, Charlie Evans and Kevin Bacon.

Passes to AFI FEST are on sale at FEST.AFI.com. Festivalgoers have the opportunity to select either a FEST Pass or a Premium FEST Pass. The Premium FEST Pass includes access to all screenings including Red Carpet Premieres, priority screening selection and theater access, access to the AFI FEST Festival Lounge and Festival Mixer, and AFI FEST merch. The FEST Pass features access to all screenings (excluding Red Carpet Premieres), early screening selection and theater access, access to AFI FEST Festival Lounge and AFI FEST merch. Learn more at https://fest.afi.com/passes/.   

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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), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) 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.

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