West Newton Cinema will be screening “The Testament of Ann Lee” on Sunday, February 1 at 1PM at the West Newton Cinema (1296 Washington Street, West Newton). A panel discussion will follow. Tickets are $20 and include the screening and discussion.
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).
A post-screening conversation will explore the film’s portrayal of Ann Lee and Shaker spirituality, with particular attention to women’s religious leadership, utopian community-building, and the historical contexts of dissenting Protestant movements in the Atlantic world.
Panelists:
CHRISTOPHER H. EVANS, Ph.D.
Christopher Evans is Professor Emeritus of the History of Christianity at Boston University School of Theology
MARGARET LAMBERTS BENDROTH, Ph.D.
Historian of American Protestantism; former Executive Director, Congregational Library & Archives (Boston)
