Shooting on KODAK, DP William Rexer ASC captured the ecstasy and agony of an 18th century quest for utopia in Mona Fastvold's 'The Testament of Ann Lee'

Capturing on KODAK 35mm film, DP William Rexer ASC depicted the ecstasy and agony of an 18th century quest to build a utopian society in director Mona Fastvold's The Testament of Ann Lee.

Directed by Fastvold and co-written with her creative partner Brady Corbet, with whom she co-wrote the multi-award-winning The Brutalist (2024, DP Lol Crawley BSC ASC), The Testament of Ann Lee, chronicles the life of Ann Lee (1736-1784), the irrepressible founder and leader of the fundamentalist Shaker movement.

Based on true events during the mid-1700s, and depicted as a musical with choreographed dance routines, the Searchlight Pictures release follows Lee's difficult childhood and impoverished upbringing in Manchester, England, her spiritual awakening, intensely profound visions and recognition as the earthly embodiment of Jesus Christ among her followers.

Known as Mother Ann, she flees persecution as a witch along with a small group of devotees and journeys to America to establish a radical utopian community based on the ideals of equality, pacificism, celibacy and rejection of tyrannical rule. Ecstatic worship involves vigorous, trembling dance and song, leading to the movement's nickname as the 'Quakers who Shake' or Shakers. The Testament of Ann Lee features more than a dozen traditional Shaker hymns, reimagined with rapturous choreography.

Following its premiere at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, where it screened from a 70mm film print, the movie received five-star reviews for Seyfried's committed performance, along with Golden Globe and Critics' Choice best actress nominations, plus acclaim for Fastvold's direction and Rexer's rich, ravishing and painterly cinematographic work on 35mm film.

Rexer had previously worked with Fastvold on multiple episodes of the Apple TV + psychological thriller series The Crowded Room (2023) and Long Bright River (2024), both starring Seyfried, and remarks, "Mona, Amanda and I were already close-knit before we started on the film, which was very much a positive to take into production.

"Mona first began talking casually to me about it when we were working together on The Crowded Room. Around 12 months later, in January 2024, we shot a teaser for the film with Amanda over the course of two days on 3-perf 35mm Kodak stock in Upstate New York to assess its viability and help raise funds, and almost every frame from that short is in final movie.

"I love music and musicals and grew up in that milieu. My father was a vaudeville tap dancer and theatrical producer. My mother ran a theater company for youth that hosted musicals. My first jobs were running follow-spots for groups such as The Spinners and Earth, Wind & Fire.

"As a DP, I shot many music videos and collaborated with Baz Luhrmann on all eleven episodes of musical TV series The Get Down (2016). But this wasn't anything like a regular or traditional musical production. This was emanating from prayer and was much more about religious and spiritual experiences than it was about spectacle. So it was a really exciting challenge to consider how we would step away from tradition and consider how this narrative would be told visually."

Rexer explains that during early discussions he and Fastvold arrived at the idea of the visual language being that of an inquisitive observer who gradually becomes an active participant in Ann Lee's story.

"We wanted the camera to start from the perspective of a reticent watcher who gets drawn into the story as an active believer and becomes part of the Shaker experience," he says. "Mona also wanted to immerse the audience in the reality of the 1700s, with the atmosphere shaped by candlelight, texture and chiaroscuro, while reflecting the mystery surrounding Ann Lee."

The DP also exclaims, "There was absolutely no question of this production being shot on anything other than 35mm film. Along with Brady, Mona is absolutely committed to film – the primary reasons being that they want a cinematic experience to transport the audience, and for their films to stand out from the other material people are watching every day.

"The quickest, easiest way to do that is by shooting on celluloid. Psychologically it takes you to another time and place. When I see something that's been shot on film, I know deep in my soul that I'm being taken to a somewhere else."

Rexer's previous motion picture credits on film include Prime (2005), The Groomsmen (2006), I Think I Love My Wife (2007), Fierce People (2007), Purple Violets (2007) and The Accidental Husband (2008).

"Although I have shot a great many commercials and music videos on film, it had been quite some time since I had done a longform narrative on 35mm. But I had absolutely no trepidation at all. It was exciting to me. I love the process – the recognition and respect of how precious film is, the focused conversations between the actors and the director on set, the rituals of the slates and communal experience of watching dailies together. Those traditions, when you shoot on film, are like a religion in themselves."

The DP makes an additional confession, "I knew almost nothing about Shakers and the Shaker Movement beyond the tradition of simple, utilitarian woodworking and furniture. During pre-production Mona, Sam Bader, the production designer, and I went to the Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, about half a dozen times. We also spent many weekends sitting around Mona's kitchen table together, just reading about Shakers and listening to traditional Shaker hymns. We did so much homework, it was like being in college again."

Rexer says he a Fastvold drew visual inspiration from a variety of artistic media. Filmic references included the Italian Neorealist The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978; dir. & DP Ermanno Olmi), for its atmospheric depiction of the rustic life of peasants. They also considered Baroque religious paintings, especially the work of Caravaggio (1571 – 1610) and his dramatic use of lighting to observe the human state, both physically and emotionally. The subdued portraits and interiors in artworks by Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864 – 1916) helped to inform the production design as well as the cinematographic look.

More modern photographic references also came into the mix as Rexer contemplated the stills of Australian contemporary art photographer Bill Henson, particularly his low-light Rembrandt-esque photographs showing the subtle, private emotions of ballerinas in which luminous faces glow from darkened backgrounds.

Principal photography on The Testament of Ann Lee took place over a total of 34 shooting days, starting with physical locations and on sets constructed at variety of studios in Hungary, from August to late September 2024. Two days were then spent in Sweden to shoot the Atlantic crossing scenes, as Mother Ann and her followers head for America. During November, production also took place in Upstate NY and Massachusetts for five days, including the Hancock Shaker Village. In keeping with a desire for traditional authenticity in the filmmaking style, background plates were hand-painted by matte artist Leigh Took of Mattes & Minatures Visual Effects in London.

To aid what he calls the "brisk" nature of the production, Rexer employed the Artemis directors' viewfinder app on his iPhone, to pre-visualize every single scene in the film.

"Along with moving sequences, we grabbed stills from the first and last frame of each scene, printed them out and posted them on Mona's office wall. That way the entire crew knew what we were going to shoot, what we weren't going to shoot, the required setdressings, etc. On a limited budget, with precious little time, working that way really helped us to channel resources where they would be needed."

Rexer framed the movie in 2.39:1 aspect ratio, shooting with ARRICAM LT and ST 35mm cameras, plus an ARRIFLEX 435 for slow-motion sequences, all fitted with Sigma Cine and Sigma Classic lenses. The camera package was supplied by Vantage Vision in Hungary and ARRI New York.

"We did around three months of dance rehearsals with choreographer Celia Rowlson-Hall in New York before we went to Hungary but hadn't finally determined what the aspect ratio was going to be at that point," he says.

"Using Artemis on my iPhone we tested many different aspect ratios and found that 2.39:1 best served the visual storytelling, with the camera as observational and the active participant, while offering the best perspectives on the dance routines, too."

"As for the lenses, we conducted a blind test of a wide range of glass from different manufacturers – including Cooke, Zeiss, Vantage, Leitz and Sigma. The footage for that included Amanda illuminated by a little book-light in the foreground, plus a wall of candles in the background and an ARRI Sky Panel set at 4,000 Kelvin to give a hint of backlight.

"We looked at how her face was rendered by different focal length lenses, the separation between foreground and background, the veiling glare, and the authenticity of the bokeh on the candles. And the Sigma Cine and Sigma classics won the battle."

For the shoot, Rexer went with KODAK VISION3 250D 5207 for the film's day exterior/interior scenes, and KODAK VISION3 500T 5219 for lowlight/night sequences. Film processing, plus 2K dailies and 4K select scans, were done in the lab at Focus-Fox Studio in Budapest.

"Both of those Kodak stocks gave us the painterly looks and fall-off we wanted in the different lighting environments in which we were filming – where the illumination was motivated by either daylight on our exteriors or by a mix of day, fire and candlelight on our interiors.

"I really like the grain structure of the 250D and stuck with that stock for most of the daylight work. The latitude and the grain structure of the 500T are fantastic, and it worked so well on the many low-light, dark and nighttime scenes.

"There's something about that 500T that constantly amazes me in a positive way when you are pushing at the edge of exposure and wonder whether it's going to work out. But when you watch dailies, it's like 'Oh my God, magic just happened there.'

"I did straight processing at the lab as the movie was destined for release on 70mm print at festivals and premieres around the world. While I like what push-processing does with the grain structure, I knew the number of processes that would be needed to make the 70mm prints would build-up the contrast, and I wanted to help alleviate that. So, I only push-processed one sequence, a long slow zoom into Amanda at the first religious meeting, where we were just filming in candlelight. Otherwise, everything was processed straight."

Apart from the dance sequences, which involved two cameras, The Testament of Ann Lee was predominantly a single-camera shoot, with Sam Ellison operating for the mainstay of the production, and György Horváth working as the focus puller during the stint in Hungary. To ensure the team kept up with the schedule, Ellison was sometimes deployed to lead second unit photography directed by Corbet, while Rexer took over the main live action. During the US leg of production, John Larson worked as the 1st AC.

Rexer also wielded the camera for the movie's more intimate scenes, ensuring a small and unobtrusive crew, remarking, "Mona, Amanda and I discussed everything long before we filmed those scenes, and to keep things comfortable, it was agreed that the room would be cleared to just a very small crew."

During the movie overall, the camera is constantly with Mother Ann, and the main challenge particularly during the dance sequences, was how to get in there with her as a reticent observer who wants to join in.

"The only way to do that was by shooting handheld," says Rexer. "Sam and I ran through these scenes during many rehearsals in New York, using Artemis to design and time how the camera was going to move. He's tall and has filmed a lot of dance routines, andwas great at working his way around the performers.

"When we it came to shooting for real at our locations in Hungary, Sam proved brilliant at articulating what we had planned, working handheld often using a Steadybag over his shoulder to cradle the camera. We also employed a jib arm to crane the camera up-and-over the dancers, for a top shot to reveal the how the people at the gatherings became a kind of super-organism."

Zoltáb Gecco Kristóffy was the gaffer in Hungary, with Jonas Elmqvist taking-over the lighting duties in Sweden, followed by Scott Ramsey during the US leg.

"I lit 90% of the film with old-fashioned Tungsten fixtures, using combinations of 10K and 20K Fresnels, plus 5K and 10K Molebeams, at around 3,000 Kelvin, to create the feeling of sunlight coming in through windows. For bluer and cooler daylight, I added LiteGear LED LiteMats and ARRI SkyPanel X's between 4000 and 5,000 Kelvin into the mix.

"When I'm grading, I find that the spectrum Tungsten has, especially on film, helps the colors in the set design to be more accurate and give a realistic look to skin tones, and I have a much easier time keeping varying skin tones looking consistent."

Looking back on his experience, Rexer concludes, "This was a small-budget production with huge ambition. But my team responded exceptionally well. Daniel Bloomberg, our composer, was on set and played what would become the score to get everyone in the mood and focused. It's extremely unusual to have the composer on set, but was quite impactful.

"I love working with Mona. She's like Ann Lee in the way she inspires people to do extraordinary things. And shooting this film for her, on film, is one of the highlights of my career as a cinematographer."