Searchlight unveils first trailer for The Testament of Ann Lee

Searchlight Pictures on Wednesday released the first trailer for The Testament of Ann Lee, a musical historical drama directed by Mona Fastvold and starring Amanda Seyfried as Ann Lee, the 18th century founder of the Shaker movement. The film, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival this fall to a lengthy standing ovation, opens in select U.S. theaters on December 25 and is scheduled to reach U.K. cinemas on February 20, 2026, with some screenings presented in 70mm.

Fastvold co-wrote the screenplay with Brady Corbet. The film reimagines more than a dozen traditional Shaker hymns as large-scale singing and dancing sequences, with choreography by Celia Rowlson-Hall and music and original songs by Daniel Blumberg. It follows Lee as she leads followers in the effort to establish a utopian, communal society while preaching gender and social equality and asserting a religious role that her adherents described in messianic terms.

The trailer emphasizes the film’s musical and choreographed elements, portraying Shaker worship as ecstatic and communal. Seyfried leads an ensemble cast that includes Thomasin McKenzie, Lewis Pullman, Tim Blake Nelson, Christopher Abbott and Stacy Martin,...