"There's this bullsh*t fallacy that..." - Kristen Stewart on transitioning from in front of the camera to behind it

Stewart’s long-awaited feature directorial debut, “The Chronology of Water,” which adapts Lidia Yuknavitch’s memoir, premiered on Friday night at the 78th Cannes Film Festival.

Imogen Poots stars as Yuknavitch, portraying her journey from a troubled upbringing to her life as a celebrated writer, swimmer, and teacher over four decades. Stewart is known as an Oscar-nominated actor. The project has faced years-long delays due to skeptical industry financing hurdles, which stem from her mostly being known for directing short films and music videos.

Stewart opened up about her struggles with trying to pivot from acting to directing while speaking at a fireside chat, Breaking Through the Lens — a nonprofit advocating for gender equity in film.

She described the work as creatively invigorating yet professionally exasperating—citing institutional inertia for sidelined commercial frameworks as a central barrier to funding work not deemed fit within traditional industrial boundaries.

“There’s this bullsh*t fallacy that you need to have experience or technical adeptness [to direct], and it’s safeguarding the business. It’s a real male perspective,” Stewart said. “Anyone can make a movie if they have something to say.”

A seven-year passion project comes to life

Stewart had been battling to make The Chronology of Water for over seven years. She previously declared that she would complete the film “before I ever work for someone else” again.

“The current climate is a real, capital N, ‘No’ for anything that has not been proven already,” she 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.”

She admitted how tough it is to market a film whose selling point is emotion, rather than story structure, saying that “the plot is really about someone self-Heimliching and contextualizing how they’ve swallowed their voice for their entire life.” In the end, advocacy groups and other independents helped the project get to the screen.

Pushing back against performative progress

While celebrating the achievements of female filmmakers, Stewart lamented the tokenism that usually supports such acclaim in Hollywood.

“It’s easy for them to be like, ‘Look what we’re doing. We’re making Maggie Gyllenhaal’s movie! We’re making Margot Robbie’s movie!’ And you’re like, OK, cool. You’ve chosen four.”

She made it clear that her criticism was not directed at the filmmakers themselves—“I’m in awe of those women, I love those women”—but at the industry’s use of those women’s work as a sign of advancement.

“It feels phony. If we're congratulating each other for broadening perspective, when we haven't really done enough, then we stop broadening.”

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Still, Stewart is resolute that she will continue to take on directing challenges:

“It shouldn’t have taken so long… And I can’t wait for the next one.”

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