Credit: A24 / HBO

Cannes 2025: Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut receives four-minute standing ovation

Sat 17 May 2025 16:50, UK

Actor Kristen Stewart made her directorial debut at the Cannes Festival with The Chronology of Water, and received a four-minute standing ovation.

The Chronology of Water has been a long-standing passion project for Stewart, who announced its development in 2018. The film is based on the memoir by Lidia Yuknavitch, who recounts her childhood swimming career before she went off the rails in college.

In addition to directing, the Twilight actor co-wrote the film’s screenplay alongside Yuknavitch’s husband, Andy Mingo. UK actor Imogen Poots plays Yuknavitch’s character, alongside Thora Birch and Kim Gordon.

The film details abuse and addiction in a non-linear fashion. As the lights went up after the movie, Stewart hugged her entire cast and crew, whom she had paid out of her own pocket to be there.

“This is an absolutely insane, surreal experience to be able to be here and watch this with all of you guys,” she said in a short speech after the movie. “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 has been working on the project for seven years, admitting previously that she struggled tirelessly to fund the movie. However, speaking to ScreenDaily, Stewart professed her commitment to the movie. “Even though it took a long time, it was something that I wasn’t going to stop until it happened, because there was just no other reason to live,” she confessed.

Stewart previously reacted against Trump’s proposal for film industry tariffs, stating: “We discuss this every day, like, what’s gonna happen? [Especially] now that we’ve finally found our voices … Not that it wasn’t treacherous before but now, [it is] in a way that is so literal, so strikingly essential and vital, but naturally terrifying.”

The film’s UK cinema release date is not yet publicly known.