Kristen Stewart's Directorial Debut Wows Cannes With Four-Minute Standing Ovation
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Kristen Stewart's directorial debut, The Chronology of Water, premiered at Cannes, earning a four-minute standing ovation.
Hollywood star Kristen Stewart made her directorial debut with 'The Chronology of Water" at the Cannes Film Festival, where it received a four-minute standing ovation.
Imogen Poots delivered a standout performance in Stewart's adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch's 2011 memoir of the same name. Poots plays Yuknavitch in this non-linear portrayal of the writer's life, featuring harrowing scenes of sexual abuse by her father and her descent into drug addiction, contrasted with the poetic redemption she found in water.
After the premiere, Stewart embraced the entire cast and crew, giving them the spotlight. Following a kiss with her wife Dylan Meyer, she took the microphone from Cannes chief Thierry Fremaux for a brief speech.
'This is an absolutely insane, surreal experience to be able to be here and watch this with all of you guys. We finished the movie like five minutes ago, it's not even finished yet. We just slipped under this fucking shut door and goddamn it thank you," Stewart said to Fremaux before leaping into his arms.
The film, a long-cherished passion project, world premiered in the festival's Un Certain Regard section, which also features directorial debuts from actors like Scarlett Johansson and Harris Dickinson this year.
Alongside directing, Stewart co-wrote the screenplay with Yuknavitch's husband, Andy Mingo, according to variety.com.
Stewart first revealed she was working on 'Chronology of Water" back in 2018.
In a January 2024 cover story for variety.com, she opened up about the challenges in financing the film and her vow to not act in another project until 'The Chronology of Water" was completed.
Her persistence paid off in summer 2024 when filming took place over six weeks in Latvia and Malta. The cast also includes Thora Birch, Earl Cave, Michael Epp, Susannah Flood, Kim Gordon, and Jim Belushi.
Stewart was candid about the difficulties in securing funding, describing it as 'near impossible" to get backing for a film based on an original concept rather than a proven genre or existing IP.
'I think there's an entire, yet-to-be-written female language," Stewart said.
'There's a certain physicality to the type of film that I want to make that I think will be, in a slugline, really unattractive to quote-unquote 'buyers,' but in action, is entirely pervasively moving. That has just not been an easy sell. It's not about the plot. It's about someone self-Heimliching and contextualizing why that person has swallowed their own voice their whole life."
(With inputs from IANS)
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