NOVITIATE Trailer Premiere Check out the first NOVITIATE trailer! The film, written and directed by Margaret Betts, stars Melissa Leo, Julianne Nicholson, Margaret Qualley, Dianna Agron, Ashley Bell, Liana Liberato, and Denis O’Hare. NOVITIATE will be released in theaters on October 27. Set in the early 1960s and during the era of Vatican II, a young woman in training to become a nun struggles with issues of faith, the changing church and sexuality.