Behind the Screen: The Testament of Ann Lee

ABOUT THE FILM: 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 &amp; score by Academy Award winner Daniel Blumberg (The Brutalist). PANEL DISCUSSION FOLLOWS 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. CHRISTOPHER H. EVANS, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of History of Christianity &amp; Methodist Studies, Boston University School of Theology Christopher Evans teaches and writes on the history of Christianity, American religion, and Methodist history, with additional interests in religion and popular culture. His books include The Social Gospel in American Religion and Histories of American Christianity: An Introduction. ANN D. BRAUDE, Ph.D. Senior Lecturer on American Religious History; Director, Women’s Studies in Religion Program, Harvard Divinity School Ann Braude’s scholarship focuses on American religious history with an emphasis on women and minority religious movements. She is the author of Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women’s Rights in Nineteenth-century America and is widely known for her work on the centrality of women to American religious history. MARGARET LAMBERTS BENDROTH, Ph.D. Historian of American Protestantism; former Executive Director, Congregational Library &amp; Archives (Boston) Margaret Lamberts Bendroth is a historian of American religion and the author of FUNDAMENTALISM AND GENDER, 1875 TO THE PRESENT and other works on Protestant history. She served for many years as Executive Director of the Congregational Library &amp; Archives.

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