Kristen Stewart makes her directorial debut in this visceral adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch’s best-selling memoir, starring Imogen Poots (28 Weeks Later), Thora Birch (Ghost World) and Jim Belushi (Twin Peaks: The Return).

Lidia (Poots) only feels at home in the water. Brought up in an environment torn apart by alcohol and violence, swimming offers a brief respite from the father who sexually abused her and her sister (Birch). But away from the pool she seems destined for self-destruction. Drinking, drugs and sex do little to numb her trauma, only jeopardising her college swimming scholarship. But a creative writing class with One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest author Ken Kesey (Belushi) offers her unexpected freedom. Writing allows her to find her voice and finally reclaims her own story. 

Shot on 16mm, the fragmented way Stewart stitches together breathtaking and haunting images mirrors the ephemeral nature of memory. Drawing comparisons to the work of Jean-Luc Godard, Terrence Malick and Lynne Ramsay, she has nonetheless crafted something original and her own. Like Lidia, she’s found her voice.

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