Mona Fastvold on how Ann Lee's vision feels radical today

Director Mona Fastvold returned to period storytelling with The Testament of Ann Lee, a film that casts Amanda Seyfried as the founder of the Shakers. Fastvold first encountered Ann Lee while researching another project and was drawn not only to a forgotten feminist figure but to the movement’s physical and musical life.

She wrote the film with collaborators Celia Rowlson-Hall and Daniel Blumberg in mind, seeing the story as a cinematic opportunity to explore movement and dance. The movie includes multiple song-and-dance sequences, a bold choice for a director who had not previously made a musical.

Fastvold says she wanted to honor the traditions of both classic and contemporary musicals while finding a language unique to this story. Those sequences were integral to the script from early drafts, and the team dove into the Shakers’ musical legacy—sifting through more than a thousand hymns to adapt the pieces that fit their sonic world.

mona fastvold, ann lee, amanda seyfried, shakers, shaker hymns, shaker music, musical film, dance sequences, celia rowlson-hall, daniel blumberg