The film is competing in the festival’s Directors' Debuts Competition.
Camerimage is a major international event focused on cinematography and draws film makers and audiences from around the world.
Speaking to Poland’s PAP news agency, Stewart said that The Chronology of Water, adapted from the memoir by American writer Lidia Yuknavitch, is a metaphor for self-creation.
Stewart said that Yuknavitch processes the past and accepts that bad experiences are part of our personality, adding that what is painful co-creates our life.
The film follows a young swimmer, played by Britain's Imogen Poots, as she revisits a history marked by domestic violence, sexual trauma, self-destruction, the breakdown of a marriage and the loss of a child.
These experiences, Stewart suggested, become part of the body and the self, and the story shows a woman who learns to draw strength from them instead of erasing them.
Stewart said that empowerment in the film comes from working through the past and accepting that painful experiences are part of our "self."
Kristen Stewart. Photo: Empire Movies (https://www.empiremena.com/about-us/en/), CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Stewart first read Yuknavitch’s book years ago and immediately wanted to meet the author.
She said she felt that many women around the world could identify with Yuknavitch’s sense of having their desires crushed by violence and betrayed trust, even if their own lives were different.
Kristen Stewart. Photo: MichaelKovac1, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Yuknavitch gave Stewart full artistic freedom on the project.
According to Stewart, finding the right language to describe pain and using it to reclaim one’s story is a lifelong task for the book’s author and for her screen version.
The Chronology of Water had its world premiere in May in the Un Certain Regard competition at the Cannes Film Festival, a section that highlights innovative works by both established and emerging directors.
The Toruń screenings mark the film’s Polish festival debut. The picture is set to be released in Polish cinemas next year, with So Films as distributor.
Stewart, born in 1990, became globally known for her role as Bella Swan in the Twilight saga. She has since won a BAFTA award for rising star, a César award for best supporting actress in Olivier Assayas’s Clouds of Sils Maria, opposite Juliette Binoche.
She has received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for her portrayal of Princess Diana in Pablo Larraín’s Spencer, and has appeared in films by David Cronenberg, Rose Glass, and David Fincher.
The Chronology of Water was co-written for the screen by Stewart and Andy Mingo, Yuknavitch’s life and work partner, with cinematography by Los Angeles-based Corey C. Waters.
The film's executive producer was Ridley Scott and the cast, alongside Imogen Poots, includes Thora Birch, Jim Belushi, Earl Cave and musician Kim Gordon.
Some of the other films competing in this year's Director Debut's category at the Camerimage festival include Scarlett Johansson's Eleanor the Great, Sven Besser's Reedland, and If I Had Legs I'd Kick You by Mary Bronstein.
Scarlett Johansson. Photo: Harald Krichel, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
The 33rd Camerimage International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography in Toruń runs until Saturday.
(rt/gs)
Source: PAP, camerimage.pl