Kristen Stewart Expresses Fury Over The Film Industry's Backsliding for Women
The renowned actress and filmmaker has declared she is “so angry” that progress for women in the film industry have gone backwards after a brief period of positive change following the #MeToo era.
Stewart, who helmed the forthcoming film The Chronology of Water, delivered an emotional speech at a women’s luncheon in LA hosted by the Oscars organization.
“The regression from a brief moment of advancement is statistically devastating,” she told the audience. “A disappointingly low figure of films from the previous year have been made by women.”
A yearly study that monitors the numbers of women directors stated that eleven of the highest-grossing films of 2024 were directed by women, a decrease from sixteen in 2020.
‘Male-Dominated Industry Model’
In her address, Stewart said: “After the MeToo movement, it appeared likely that stories made by and for women were at last receiving recognition. That we might be allowed or even encouraged to express ourselves and our common stories, all of our experiences unfiltered.
“However, I can confirm to the bare-knuckle brawling that it requires at each stage when the content is too grim, too controversial, when the frankness with which it serves up observations about situations routinely experienced by women, frequently provokes aversion and dismissal.”
She continued: “We can discuss wage gaps and taxes on tampons and quantify the imbalance in lots of quantifiable ways. But the act of muting voices, it’s like we’re not even supposed to be angry. But I can eat this podium with a fork and [expletive] knife. I’m so angry.”
The guests hearing Stewart’s address included a number of well-known female stars.
Stewart received several rounds of applause during the duration of her brief talk.
“I appreciate you,” she said. “I am not grateful a boys’ club business model that pretends to want to hang out with us while draining our assets and belittling our true perspectives. We must avoid being used as tokens. It’s time to create our own value.”
New films from several female directors are in the running for the next Academy Awards, but the best director category is anticipated again to be male in majority.
