{"id":118792,"date":"2025-11-05T06:11:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T06:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/118792\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T06:11:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T06:11:09","slug":"kristen-stewart-urges-women-in-film-to-reject-hollywood-tokenism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/118792\/","title":{"rendered":"Kristen Stewart urges women in film to reject Hollywood tokenism"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 In a rooftop space filled with Hollywood\u2019s most influential figures, actor Kristen Stewart<\/a> delivered an unflinching speech urging women in film to stay united, reject tokenism and celebrate the next generation of female filmmakers. <\/p>\n

Stewart, who directed \u201cThe Chronology of Water,\u201d<\/a> an adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch\u2019s 2011 memoir, began her remarks with some humor, but she quickly turned to gender inequity in Hollywood. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s awkward to talk about inequality for some people,\u201d Stewart said Tuesday at the Academy Women\u2019s Luncheon. \u201cWe can discuss wage gaps and taxes on tampons and measure it in lots of quantifiable ways, but the violence of silencing. … It\u2019s like we\u2019re not even supposed to be angry. But … I\u2019m so angry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stewart said she was invited to speak about the women who inspire her and began with Yuknavitch, whose memoir she credited with \u201cgiving voice to certain truths I inherently understood.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHard truths, when spoken out loud, become springboards to freedom,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cThe permission to be unpalatable, unsanitary, and to come from the inside out \u2026 led me to acknowledge the invisible cage that we are all living in and how easy it is to story our way out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

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 \u201cCoco\u201d Chanel saw an opportunity to put her designs in the movies and empower women in film.<\/p>\n

While reflecting on the state of women\u2019s filmmaking in the post MeToo era, Stewart said it seemed possible that stories made by and for women were finally getting their due. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut 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,\u201d she said before adding that \u201cour business is in a state of emergency.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Stewart\u2019s remark, she paused as the audience murmured in agreement. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are allowed to be proud of ourselves,\u201d she said. \u201cBut let\u2019s try not to be tokenized. Let\u2019s start printing our own currency.\u201d <\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Oscar-winning costume designer Ruth E. Carter<\/a> presented this year\u2019s fellowship awardees to U.S. recipient Alina Simone, who was born in the Ukraine, and international fellow Marl\u00e9n Vi\u00f1ayo, who has been based in El Salvador.<\/p>\n

Carter described mentorship as the bridge between aspiration and opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, mentorship was someone seeing me before I could see myself,\u201d said Carter, the costume designer behind the \u201cBlack Panther\u201d films became the first Black woman to win two Oscars<\/a> in 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom 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 \u2014 that\u2019s what mentorship and fellowship do,\u201d Carter said. \u201cThey say to every woman filmmaker and artist: We see you. We believe in you. You belong here.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Carter\u2019s praise to bold statements from Stewart, the energy of solidarity and sisterhood remained the centerpiece of the afternoon. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am so for you,\u201d Stewart told the room. \u201cI hope you are too. Let\u2019s make art in the face of it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 In a rooftop space filled with Hollywood\u2019s most influential figures, actor Kristen Stewart delivered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118793,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[83985,430,60372,11840,156,83981,1438,68406,83986,17126,83982,14913,83980,83984,409,111,139,69,81367,83979,8735,83983],"class_list":{"0":"post-118792","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-alina-simone","9":"tag-celebrities","10":"tag-claire-foy","11":"tag-diversity","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-equity-and-inclusion","14":"tag-fashion","15":"tag-john-singleton","16":"tag-julia-louis-dreyfus","17":"tag-kate-hudson","18":"tag-kerry-condon","19":"tag-kristen-stewart","20":"tag-lidia-yuknavitch","21":"tag-linda-bolton-smith","22":"tag-movies","23":"tag-new-zealand","24":"tag-newzealand","25":"tag-nz","26":"tag-patty-jenkins","27":"tag-ruth-carter","28":"tag-spike-lee","29":"tag-tessa-thompson"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}