First Look at the Austin-Made Comedy-Musical Sister Aimee

Get ready for a glimpse at one of the wildest, weirdest, wooliest movies to come from Austin, as the first trailer for faith healer comedy Sister Aimee has arrived.

Last September, we talked to star Anna Margaret Hollyman while the film about the original megapastor, Sister Aimee McPherson, was still in production. Part historical drama, part queer romance, part religious comedy, past musical, it explores the greatest mystery of her life: Her strange disappearance in 1926, at the peak of her fame. The authorities in California thought she'd drowned, but then she turned up in Mexico, stumbling towards the border with Arizona, with a wild story about being kidnapped. But what really happened? Hollyman and writer/director duo Samantha Buck and Marie Schlingmann fill in the blanks with a road trip fantasy that features gun runners, the Mexican Revolution, the strange power of belief, and the fine line between preaching and performance.

The story may belong to California, but the film was mostly shot in Austin, and features a who's who of local luminaries, such as Lee Eddy, Macon Blair, Nathan Zellner, John Merriman, and more. Keep an eye out for them all in the first trailer, and maybe that'll tide you over until the upcoming release (no confirmed date yet, but expect news from distribution house 1091 very soon). We got to see what Marjorie Baumgarten praised as "a scrappy period piece" when it debuted locally at SXSW this year, and now you at least get this little tease.