Kristen Stewart is getting behind the camera for the first time. The Chronology of Water sees the Twilight actor making her directorial debut — and it’s already premiered at Cannes.

The film is based on the memoir by writer Lidia Yuknavitch. In the harrowing book, Yuknavitch recounts the abuse she and her sister suffered at the hands of their father.

“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 internalise that violence,” Stewart said of the project at a Cannes panel our Head of Content, Kemi Alemoru, attended. “I know it sounds dramatic, but it’s true. It’s incredibly violent to be a woman.”

Courtesy of Cannes Film Festival

The Chronology of Water plot

The film follows Lidia’s traumatic upbringing — throughout her teenage years, she and her sister, Claudia, are abused by their father, while their mother disappears into a cloud of traumatised denial. Claudia leaves home and Lidia throws herself into swimming — the pool, it seems, is the only place she can feel true freedom and peace. She wins herself a university scholarship, but, after turning to cocaine and alcohol, she loses it.

The Chronology of Water cast

Imogen Poots stars as Lidia, after Stewart reached out to offer her the role via email. “You just don’t read things like that,” she said at Cannes. “Or if you do read scripts like that, they’re not getting made. And so it was just this living, breathing document. It was just such a miracle that we ended up making this film. It’s extraordinary.”

Thora Birch stars as Lidia’s older sister, Claudia, while Michael Epps plays their abusive father. The cast is rounded out by Jim Belushi and Tom Sturridge.

Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut

Stewart spent eight years working on her directorial debut – a fact that actor Thora Birch described as “absurd,” as these kinds of female-driven, honest projects “should be normal.”