Hollywood star Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut The Chronology of Water premiered at Cannes Film Festival and earned a four-minute standing ovation.
Imogen Poots’ performance was certainly a highlight of Kristen’s adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch’s 2011 memoir of the same name. Poots stars as Lidia in Kristen’s non-linear take on the bestselling writer’s life, which includes shocking scenes of sexual abuse by her father and her spiral into drug use juxtaposed with the poetic salvation she found from being in water.
Kristen hugged everyone in the cast and crew and directed the attention toward them. After kissing her wife Dylan Meyer, she allowed the spotlight to shine on her, accepting the mic from Cannes chief Thierry Fremaux for a short 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,” Kristen said to Thierry Fremaux, before literally leaping into his arms.
The long-in-the-works passion project world premiered in the festival’s Un Certain Regard sidebar, which this year also features debuts from fellow actors such as Scarlett Johansson and Harris Dickinson.
In addition to directing, Kristen Stewart co-wrote the film’s screenplay alongside Lidia Yuknavitch’s husband, Andy Mingo. Kristen first announced the development of Chronology of Water in 2018.
In a media interview last year, Kristen shared that she had been struggling to finance the movie and would refuse to act in another film until she was able to get The Chronology of Water finished.