"American Casino" Hits NYC, Earns Rave Reviews

American Casino, the terrific new documentary film illuminating the causes and consequences of the subprime mortgage disaster, has now opened in New York City.  One result: rave reviews in today’s New York Times and this week’s New Yorker.

The film is now showing in three cities.  It will be in New York through September 15, but will end its run in San Francisco tomorrow night and in Milwaukee on Friday.  It is already booked for screenings in Pittsburgh, Denver, Los Angeles, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Pleasantville NY, and Columbus.  Details on dates and theaters are here.

The film was also featured on the progressive daily radio and TV news show Democracy Now! – in a segment based around a must-watch interview with Elizabeth Jacobson, a Wells Fargo “insider” who provided a powerful affidavit for the city of Baltimore’s lawsuit suing the bank for reverse redlining.  Jacobson explains how Wells Fargo gave its employees extra incentives to make subprime loans even to borrowers who qualified for much less expensive prime loans, and how it targeted black communities in Baltimore, working through black churches that got a kickback for every subprime loan made to one of their members.  For more on Baltimore’s lawsuit, and on the affidavits from Jacobson and one other former Wells Fargo employee, click here or here.

The consequences for Baltimore’s black neighborhoods are shown vividly in American Casino.  To find out more about the film, the issues it covers, and if it’s coming to a theater near you, click here.

(Photo: American Casino)