Amanda Seyfried brought Mona Fastvold's The Testament of Ann Lee, a musical portrait of the Manchester-born founder of the Shakers, to the festival's Official Competition.
Amanda Seyfried, the star of Mean Girls and Mamma Mia!, presented Mona Fastvold’s The Testament of Ann Lee at Curzon Mayfair on Saturday 11 October 2025. Thomasin McKenzie and the director joined her.
Seyfried was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in 1985. She began modelling at eight, before recurring roles in the soap operas As the World Turns and All My Children.
Her Marion Davies in David Fincher’s Mank earned an Academy Award nomination. Her Elizabeth Holmes in The Dropout won her a Primetime Emmy and a Golden Globe.
Fastvold wrote the film with Brady Corbet, her collaborator on The Brutalist. Ann Lee was born in Manchester in 1736 and worked in a cotton factory before leading the Shakers, the religious sect she took across the Atlantic.
More than a dozen traditional Shaker hymns are reimagined in the film, with a score by Daniel Blumberg. The London screening was in the festival’s Official Competition, after the film competed for the Golden Lion at Venice in September.
McKenzie, Lewis Pullman, Stacy Martin and Tim Blake Nelson complete the cast. Searchlight Pictures released the film in British cinemas in February 2026.