Kristen Stewart looked incredible at the Opening Night Gala for the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
The actress wore a matching set by Chanel comprised of pants and one of the brand’s classic jackets, which she left unbuttoned at the bottom to reveal a little bit of skin. The black co-ord was embroidered white graphic bows and Chanel logos throughout.
Her brown hair was styled up into an effortless bun with her bangs framing her face.
Stewart is starring in not one, but two indie films: Sam and Andy Zuchero’s Love Me, and A24’s Love Lies Bleeding, directed by Rose Glass.
At the festival, Stewart was awarded the prestigious Visionary Award, which, according to the Sundance Institute, recognizes “her work as an uncompromising artist and contributions to the field of independent film.”
“I really love this festival,” the 33-year-old said in her acceptance speech. “My whole life I have loved this festival. I came here for the first time 20 years ago, I realized today. I could barely speak English when spoken to. I got my first pair of Ugg boots, and I actually got to, like, where the cool kids were. I knew that in my bones this was just, like, a place full of ‘yes’ in a world full of ‘no,’ and I couldn’t even understand why yet, but I knew it, and I know that I was right.”
“Awards are only as meaningful as the people and places that give them to you, and to be accepted by the community I have admired so personally,” she continued. “It is so lovely and enlivening. It is so well-timed. I, like, need this. Thank you.”
“This isn’t something that someone who makes good decisions in life chooses to do. It’s an irrational and illogical endeavor to make these movies that are, like, so impossible to make. And it’s tropey and kind of embarrassing and weird to go on about how hard it is to make a movie, but everyone here actually gets that. Not everyone in the world does,” Stewart added. “You know, that things only happen by the sheerest, most illogical, insane, monstrous force of will towards something that should not work, but if it does it could be something absolutely amazing, and you could wind up at Sundance.”
She ended her speech with, “Thank you for lighting a fire under my ass and letting me know my whole life, implicitly and explicitly, that it is possible. Sundance is the fucking shit. I love being here. Thank you so much.”
Bri is the editorial and social media assistant at ELLE.com. Before joining the team at ELLE, she worked as the editorial assistant for Seventeen.com and Cosmopolitan.com where she covered all things celebrity news and pop culture. You can probably find her sipping an oatmilk iced chai while searching for the best new makeup products or thrifting her entire wardrobe.