The rooftop space at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures was awash in pinks and creams on Tuesday, from the lush floral arrangements to the outfits on Hollywood royalty like Kate Hudson and Riley Keough in attendance at the annual Academy Women’s Luncheon, presented by Chanel, to celebrate women filmmakers.
The tranquil setting belied the very real current of frustration and anger felt by many women in Hollywood right now, highlighted by keynote speaker Kristen Stewart’s raw, funny and rousing speech decrying the lack of stories by and for women after a brief post-#MeToo surge.
“I am in a severe state of PMS today,” the actor and “Chronology of Water” director said, making it clear that her address wasn’t going to go the typical ladies-who-lunch route. “I relish being able to say that my nerves are close to the surface of my skin and it’s a great day for that…. It’s awkward to talk about inequality for some people and it’s more awkward when the nature of inequality is somewhat ephemeral. We can discuss wage gaps and taxes on tampons and measure in lots of quantifiable ways, but the violence of silencing, it’s like we’re not even supposed to be angry. I can eat this podium with a fork and f— knife, I’m so angry.”
Stewart’s remarks during her 10-minute speech were met with several rounds of applause, as well as hoots and hollers from an audience that included stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tessa Thompson, Zoey Deutch, Kaitlyn Dever and Felicity Jones, as well as industry heavyweights like Warner Bros. CEO Pam Abdy.
“May I leave my contortionist skills at the door and speak from the heart?” asked the Oscar-nominated performer. “May I not conceal or reframe my anger but share it lively so as to move through it to something more fun and more beautiful and less boring and more original. The backsliding from our brief moment of progress is statistically devastating. It is devastating. Such a pitiful number of films [from] the past year have been made by women. We obviously need many more women’s luncheons in our lives. We need to become ladies who lunch all the f— time.”
Later she said: “Our business is in a state of emergency, man. And you know the last thing that I wanna do here is lose the celebration under a pile of pissed-off rubble. We are allowed to be proud of ourselves and maybe to allow each other to reclaim the gratitude… I’m thankful to you. I am not grateful to the boys’ club business model that pretends to want to hang out with us while siphoning our resources and belittling our true perspectives.”
Prior to Stewart’s speech, the event featured opening remarks by Academy President Lynette Howell Taylor, followed by “Sinners” costume designer Ruth E. Carter, who presented this year’s Academy Gold Fellowships for Women to recipients Alina Simone and Marlén Viñayo. The fellowship is awarded in partnership with Chanel, signifying the brand’s commitment to nurturing the next generation of women filmmakers.
Attendees agreed that support for women artists is essential. “It’s a very tough business on women, and it takes so much time and experience to learn how to navigate these waters,” says “Nouvelle Vague” star Zoey Deutch. “So to have people that can either one, advise you or two, say ‘Yes I hear you, I see you, that also happened to me’, I think, is immeasurably important.”
Says Embeth Davidtz, director of “Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight”: “It’s still really hard. I’m a female filmmaker. It took a lot to get my film made and any help that we can get, we need to get it. Men have been getting it for a really long time.”
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