The last time Amanda Seyfried was at the Venice Film Festival with a film it was in 2017 for “First Reformed,” playing a parishioner in modern day New York. For her latest trip to the Lido, she gone back almost 300 years but been upped to full-blown religious leader.

In “ The Testament of Ann Lee ,” premiering in Competition on Sep. 1, she plays Ann Lee, the 18th century founder of Christian sect the Shakers. Born in Manchester, England, Lee emigrated in 1776 with a small bunch of followers to the U.S. where, despite going through numerous personal traumas, helped establish a utopian society known for its sexual equality, utilitarian design, frenzied singing and celibacy (the latter ensuring Shaker numbers would eventually dwindle — just three currently remain).

From director Mona

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