THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE Teaser: Amanda Seyfried Builds a Utopia of Faith in Mona Fastvold’s Historical Musical

After co-writing last year’s VistaVision epic The Brutalist, Mona Fastvold and Brady Corbet go further back in time for their latest collaboration, which musically retells the origins of a colonial religious movement. The Testament of Ann Lee, with Fastvold at the helm, follows the eponymous 18th-century figure (Amanda Seyfried) who was the founder and leader of the Shaker movement. It also stars Thomasin McKenzie, Lewis Pullman, Tim Blake Nelson, Christopher Abbott, Stacy Martin, Matthew Beard, Scott Handy, Viola Prettejohn, Jamie Bogyo, and David Cale.

Ann Lee was shot on 70mm by cinematographer William Rexer, with The Brutalist composer Daniel Blumberg penning the score and original songs. It had its world premiere at this year’s Venice Film Festival, where it received widespread acclaim, especially for Seyfried’s performance. Ahead of its release on Christmas Day, Searchlight Pictures has unveiled the highly much teaser trailer.

As the official synopsis reads:

From award-winning writer-director Mona Fastvold (The World to Come, The Brutalist) comes the extraordinary true legend of Ann Lee, founder of the devotional sect known as the Shakers. Academy Award nominee Amanda Seyfried stars as the Shaker’s irrepressible leader, who preached gender and social equality and was revered by her followers. The Testament of Ann Lee captures the ecstasy and agony of her quest to build a utopia, featuring more than a dozen traditional Shaker hymns reimagined as rapturous movements with choreography by Celia Rowlson-Hall (Vox Lux) and original songs & score by Academy Award winner Daniel Blumberg (The Brutalist).

Watch the teaser below.

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