Kristen Stewart urges solidarity and honesty in emotional keynote at Academy Women's Luncheon

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — In a rooftop space filled with Hollywood's most influential figures, actor Kristen Stewart delivered an unflinching speech urging women in film to stay united, reject tokenism and celebrate the next generation of female filmmakers.

Stewart, who directed “The Chronology of Water,” an adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch’s 2011 memoir, began her remarks with some humor, but she quickly turned to gender inequity in Hollywood.

“It’s awkward to talk about inequality for some people,” Stewart said Tuesday at the Academy Women’s Luncheon. “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.”

Stewart said she was invited to speak about the women who inspire her and 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."

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

Many actors in attendance dressed in Chanel clothing, jewelry, shoes, makeup and accessories. The luxury fashion brand, which sponsored the event, has had a long association with film and women creatives since founder Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel saw an opportunity to put her designs in the movies and empower women in film.

While 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.”

After Stewart's remark, she paused as the audience murmured in agreement.

“We are allowed to be proud of ourselves,” she said. “But let’s try not to be tokenized. 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 program that supports emerging women filmmakers.

Oscar-winning costume designer Ruth E. Carter presented this year’s fellowship awardees to U.S. recipient Alina Simone, who was born in the Ukraine, and international fellow Marlén Viñayo, who has been based in El Salvador.

Carter described mentorship as the bridge between aspiration and opportunity.

“For me, mentorship was someone seeing me before I could see myself,” said Carter, the costume designer behind the “Black Panther” films became the first Black woman to win two Oscars in 2023.

“From my college professor Linda Bolton Smith, who refused to let me quit, to director Spike Lee, who offered me my first film, to the late John Singleton, who gave me room to learn and grow — that’s what mentorship and fellowship do," Carter said. "They say to every woman filmmaker and artist: We see you. We believe in you. You belong here.”

From Carter's praise to bold statements from Stewart, the energy of solidarity and sisterhood remained the centerpiece of the afternoon.

“I am so for you,” Stewart told the room. “I hope you are too. Let’s make art in the face of it.”