00:00To see Mona make such an ambitious project on this scale is impressive and inspiring.
00:14Mona got people at the top of their game to buy into this whole idea and to love it as much as
00:21she did. One of the things that Mona said to me when we were first meeting was she was like,
00:26you know, it's very much going to be an indie movie where there's a lot that's going to be
00:31uncomfortable and the thing that's going to carry us through is that we all want to tell the story
00:36and we're all impassioned to be a part of this world. We are located 10 miles north. I will take
00:42you there myself. Amanda Joling calls her mother Mona and it's true. She's beautiful all the way
00:48through and because she treats everybody with such respect and so much love, it's contagious.
00:55Everybody there wants to do their best work. You can't make a film that's about compassion and
01:03empathy and community without thinking about how this little film community is going to function.
01:10So I think that was something that just led into the work that we were doing.
01:14At last she had found a sanctuary for her people. Every department was just locked in
01:20and I think it's because everybody understood that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
01:24We kept talking about how Anne-Lee said work each day as if it was your last day on earth and as if
01:31you had a thousand years to live and these ideas around just striving for perfection, always striving
01:37for perfection. Obviously we didn't become shakers. We are not celibates. But I think also like
01:45we also, this experience is not taken for granted either because I would hope that I can come back to a film
01:53set and have some kind of feeling of this kind of utopia that we had because in a lot of ways it was
01:58the best version of a film set.
02:03You know, we were very different than Anne-Lee but you led with the same type of intention and that's
02:08why I think we all just wanted to be there and and and be the best artists we could be in order to help you make this.
02:13Mona Fastvold knows the history of cinema and she knows the history of the musical and to contort that into
02:37something that involves the shaker movement. That's something that only Mona was going to be able to come up with.
02:47It's like this whole piece is such an expression of like their connection and their love and their warmth for one another.
02:53I think what's incredible about Anne's story and why I'm so happy that Mona chose to tell her story is because
03:02with each moment of adversity that Anne faces, she responded with love. She responded with strength.
03:09We have made tremendous sacrifices to receive the greatest love that one can experience.
03:16There is space to tell stories about the many, many women who have had a hand in shaping history.
03:24We need to tell these stories, period.
03:28She created a small corner of the world where people could live in peace and harmony and
03:34create art and they could live free of these societal norms that they felt bound by.
03:40There's something really beautiful in that and there is something hopeful in that.
03:43And it really, really felt like Anne Lee deserved to have her story told.
03:49This is the vision I shall carry in my heart for the rest of my days.
04:13It's the vision of Anne Lee's and her family THEY made a new interaction part of the way.
04:19So don't let them get to this story them.
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