Brace For Impact: Kristen Stewart’s Daring Directorial Debut Roars In The Chronology of Water Trailer
The first trailer for Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut The Chronology of Water has landed, with Imogen Poots embodying Lidia Yuknavitch in a visceral plunge through abuse, addiction, rage, and redemption. Fresh from a Cannes premiere that drew praise for its bold, symbol-soaked storytelling, Stewart signals an uncompromising, abstract vision.
Kristen Stewart just dropped the first trailer for her feature directorial debut, The Chronology of Water, and it looks exactly like the movie she has been threatening to make: raw, poetic, and not remotely interested in playing nice. Imogen Poots leads as author Lidia Yuknavitch, and the footage leans hard into symbol-heavy, abstract images while promising a story that goes straight into trauma, addiction, anger, and the long crawl toward saving yourself.
What the movie is actually about
This one is based on Yuknavitch's memoir, and yes, it is a true story. She grew up in a violent, broken home, survived physical and sexual abuse, tried to outrun the damage through competitive swimming and drugs, and eventually rebuilt herself through writing. Stewart has been developing the adaptation for about eight years, and the film is very much made on its own terms rather than as a tidy, awards-ready biopic.
"The reason that I wanted to make this was to screw with form, because it's not about what happened to Lidia Yuknavitch, it's what happens to us all and how we can internalize that violence... It's incredibly violent to be a woman."
That philosophy carries through the trailer and, by all accounts, the movie itself. Stewart has been clear that she does not plan to sand down the brutality. She also wants to push how women's lives are shown on screen — including the stuff people still act squeamish about — not for shock value, but because it's reality.
Cannes reception and the vibe check
The Chronology of Water premiered at Cannes earlier this year and pulled a six-and-a-half-minute standing ovation — festival theatrics, sure, but it lined up with early reactions calling the film bold and symbolically rich. The trailer matches that: tactile images, bodies in water, memory as a tactile thing. It was shot on 16mm, which gives it a rough, lived-in texture that fits the subject. As of now, the film sits at 94% on Rotten Tomatoes and runs 128 minutes.
Release plan and who is behind it
For something this formally wild, the plan is surprisingly big: a wide release with an awards push, which you do not often see for a movie this uncompromising. Stewart, coming off Love Lies Bleeding, wrote and directed. The producing team includes Maggie McLean, Dylan Meyer, Michael Pruss, Rebecca Feuer, and Charles Gillibert.
- Title: The Chronology of Water
- Director: Kristen Stewart (feature debut)
- Star: Imogen Poots as Lidia Yuknavitch
- Source: Yuknavitch's memoir
- Format: Shot on 16mm
- Festival: Cannes premiere, 6.5-minute standing ovation
- Runtime: 128 minutes
- Current score: 94% on Rotten Tomatoes
- Producers: Maggie McLean, Dylan Meyer, Michael Pruss, Rebecca Feuer, Charles Gillibert
- Release: January 5, 2026 (USA), with a wide rollout and awards campaign
Bottom line: this is not the glossy, montage-of-triumph version of a writer's life. It's messy on purpose, intimate, and unafraid to sit with pain — and resilience. If the movie delivers on what the trailer and those Cannes notices are selling, Stewart's directing career is off to a very confident, very uncompromising start.