‘I could eat this podium with a fork and knife I’m so angry’: Kristen Stewart blasts neglect of female film-makers | Kristen Stewart
Kristen Stewart spoke out against the “violence of silencing” female directors in the film industry, which she described as a “state of emergency”.
Speaking at the Academy Women’s Luncheon on Tuesday, Stewart said her female companions in the film should reject tokenism and “print our own currency.”
“For some people, it feels weird to talk about inequality,” Stewart said. “We can debate wage gaps and taxes on tampons, and we can measure it in many measurable ways, but the severity of the silencing… As if we shouldn’t be angry. But I could eat this podium with a fork and knife, I’m so angry.”
Stewart spent eight years bringing his passion project to life, an adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch’s 2011 memoir The Chronology of Water. The film, starring Imogen Poots, premiered at Cannes in May and will be released in the US shortly.
Stewart began his speech by citing Yuknavitch as a major inspiration and said his memoirs “give voice to certain truths that I naturally understand.”
“Hard truths, when spoken out loud, become the springboard to freedom,” Stewart said. “The permission to be unpalatable, unhealthy, and inside out…made me accept the invisible cage we all live in and how easy it is to slip into it.”
Stewart said women’s voices have received more attention since #MeToo, but the industry still fears unexpurgated stories. “I can now attest to bare-knuckle fighting every step of the way, when the content is so dark and so taboo,” he said. “Our business,” he continued, “is in extraordinary shape.
“We are allowed to be proud of ourselves,” Stewart said. “But let’s try not to be tokenized. Let’s start printing our own currency.”
“So am I to you,” he finished. “I hope you are too. Let’s make art despite this situation.”
Those attending the event included Tessa Thompson, Kate Hudson, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Claire Foy, Kerry Condon, Patty Jenkins and Emma Mackey. Also speaking at the forum was costume designer Ruth Carter, who will become the first black woman to win two Oscars in 2023.
In addition to her college professor, Carter also paid tribute to directors Spike Lee and John Singleton: “Those who gave me the space to learn and grow; that’s what mentorship and friendship do. They say to every female filmmaker and artist: We see you. We believe in you. You belong here.”
The number of women directing top-grossing US films in 2023 dropped slightly, from 18% to 16%; In the UK, around 13% of all film directors were women.
In Europe, this number is believed to be slightly higher, around 23% for all films.
A study published last year found that female representation on screen is at its lowest level in 10 years; Only 30 of the top 100 US films are directed or co-directed by women; There was a decrease from 44 to this number in 2022.
This was despite the $1.4 billion success of Greta Gerwig’s comedy Barbie, starring Margot Robbie. It is believed that two women, Chloé Zhao and Kathryn Bigelow, who have previously won the Oscar for best director this season, will be at the forefront of winning the award again at next year’s ceremony with their films Hamnet and A House of Dynamite.
