Kristen Stewart delivered a blistering keynote address at the Academy and Chanel's Women's Luncheon in Los Angeles, accusing Hollywood of failing to sustain the momentum of the MeToo movement. The actress and director, whose feature debut 'The Chronology of Water' is due next month, said the industry's brief moment of progress for women filmmakers had been followed by a 'devastating' regression.
Speaking to an audience that included Tessa Thompson, Sarah Paulson and Patty Jenkins, Stewart criticised the 'violence of silencing' and the 'bare-knuckle brawling' required to tell stories deemed too dark or taboo. 'The backsliding from a brief moment of progress is statistically devastating,' she said, citing the pitiful number of films directed by women in the past year.
Stewart, who admitted to being in a 'severe state of PMS', expressed fury at the industry's treatment of women's perspectives. 'We can discuss wage gaps and taxes on tampons, but the violence of silencing... it's like we're not even supposed to be angry. But I can eat this podium with a fork and fucking knife. I'm so angry,' she said to laughter and applause.
The 34-year-old urged women to resist tokenism and reclaim their power. 'Let's try and not be tokenized. Let's start printing our own currency,' she added, dismissing a 'boys' club business model' that pretends to want inclusion while siphoning resources.
The luncheon also saw Oscar-winning costume designer Ruth E. Carter present the year's Gold Fellowship for Women to Alina Simone and Marlén Viñayo, while attendees such as Kate Hudson and Felicity Jones shared personal stories of inspiration and defiance.
