Kristen Stewart calls out Hollywood for gender disparity

Kristen Stewart is “angry” at Hollywood!

At the Academy Women’s Luncheon filled with Hollywood stars, Stewart delivered a powerful speech calling on women in film to “print (their) own currency” and reject the industry’s tokenism. She also celebrated the next generation of female filmmakers.

Stewart, who directed ‘The Chronology of Water’, an adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch’s 2011 memoir, began on a humorous note but soon talked about gender inequity in Hollywood.

“It’s awkward to talk about inequality for some people. We can discuss wage gaps and taxes on tampons and measure it in lots of quantifiable ways, but the violence of silencing. … It’s like we’re not even supposed to be angry. But … I’m so angry,” she said.

Stewart began with Yuknavitch, whose memoir she credited with “giving voice to certain truths I inherently understood”. “Hard truths, when spoken out loud, become springboards to freedom,” Stewart said. “The permission to be unpalatable, unsanitary, and to come from the inside out … led me to acknowledge the invisible cage that we are all living in and how easy it is to story our way out there.”

Also read: Pete Davidson, Ella Purnell to star in ‘That Time We Met’

Stewart was the keynote speaker at the event held at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Those in attendance included Tessa Thompson, Kate Hudson, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Claire Foy, Kerry Condon, Patty Jenkins and Emma Mackey.

Reflecting on the state of women’s filmmaking in the post MeToo era, Stewart said it seemed possible that stories made by and for women were finally getting their due. “But I can now attest to the bare-knuckle brawling that it takes every step of the way when the content is too dark, too taboo,” she said before adding that “our business is in a state of emergency”.

“We are allowed to be proud of ourselves,” she said. “But let’s try not to be tokenised. Let’s start printing our own currency.” Tuesday’s event was held to bring together women from all facets of the filmmaking community. It was also a celebration of the Academy Gold Fellowship for Women, a programme that supports emerging women filmmakers.