Kristen Stewart to make her feature directorial debut with The Chronology Of Water

Newly christened Oscar nominee Kristen Stewart will now take on her first full-length directorial project, with the adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch’s memoir, The Chronology Of Water. The Father’s Imogen Poots will lead the film as the renowned author and teacher.

“Lidia’s memoir honors corporeal experience, radically,” Stewart says, per Deadline. “To make that experience physical feels vital to me and what this impulse means… is that it absolutely must be a film. This project has been cooking for five years with the help of Scott Free, whom I could not be more privileged to have as partners and friends. Imogen Poots will carry this movie and the staggering weight of Lidia’s life. She can hold it. I am beyond lucky to have her.”

Yuknavitch is known for her written works Dora: A Headcase, Verge, The Small Backs Of Children, and most recently, Thrust. The film’s description reads, “The memoir is a lyrical journey through a life saved by art. A young woman finds her voice through the written word and her salvation as a swimmer—ultimately becoming a triumphant teacher, mother and a singular modern writer. A survivor’s story and a sexually abrasive and honest coming of age, the film is a physical memory wash of Yuknavitch’s inner life.”

“If I don’t make this movie before the end of the year, I’ll die,” Stewart told IndieWire earlier this year—now circumventing her death.

Attached as the film’s director since 2018, Stewart has co-written the adaptation of Yuknavitch’s memoir with Andy Mingo. It’s been a long road to get the film made, as Stewart was still looking to secure funding earlier this year.

“She’s in my blood,” Stewart said of Yuknavitch back in 2018, per IndieWire, “and I knew that before I met her. As soon as I met her it was like we started this race without any sense of competition… My only goal is just to finish the screenplay and hire a really spectacular actor: I’m going to write the best fucking female role. I’m going to write a role that I want so badly but that I’m not going to play.”

The last time Stewart stepped behind the camera was in 2020 for an episode of Pablo Larraín’s COVID quarantine series for Netflix, Homemade. She also previously directed a music video for electro-pop outfit Chvrches, as well as for Sage + the Saints’ “Take Me To The South.”