Following its world premiere in Cannes, Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut The Chronology of Water will be the closing film at this year’s Oldenburg international film festival.
Adapted from Lidia Yuknavitch’s 2011 memoir, the film follows the journey of a young competitive swimmer grappling with trauma and addiction, ultimately discovering salvation through writing. Imogen Poots stars. The Forge acquired the film for North America following its Cannes debut and is planning a theatrical release in December.
“We are excited to give her bold and auspicious directorial debut a special platform,” said Oldenburg festival director Torsten Neumann, “as I believe Kristen has proven to be a new and visionary voice in cinema.”
The Hollywood Reporter‘s lead reviewer David Rooney was impressed, praising Stewart’s first time behind the camera: “It seems clear that Stewart has made exactly the movie she wanted to make, establishing a visceral connection with her subject and never letting go.”
Oldenburg also confirmed several other films for this year’s lineup, which features a wide range of new work from international filmmakers. Among the highlights are Annapurna Sriram’s Fucktoys, which has been a breakout on the U.S. festival circuit and now makes its German premiere; Yun Xie’s Slamdance Audience Award winner Under the Burning Sun, which will bow internationally in Oldenburg; and Germán Tejada’s adaptation of Oswaldo Reynoso’s classic 1961 coming-of-age novel Los Inocentes, premiering in Germany.
The U.S. drama $Positions from Brandon Daley, which had its world premiere at SXSW, will get a European bow at Oldenburg, as will J. Xavier Velasco’s Mexican thriller Crocodiles, about a young photojournalist who takes over an investigation when his mentor was killed by the cartels.
Other films in the program include the world premieres of Ghost Bastard, the new dramedy from German director Erkan Acar (Ronny & Klaid), Johannes Naber’s crime drama Letzte Ernte, and Situations, the directorial debut of U.S. director Greg Vrotsos.
From Latin America, Gala del Sol presents Rains over Babel, a U.S.-Colombian production receiving its German premiere. The festival additionally features a new German presentation of Michael Wadleigh’s 1981 cult film Wolfen, distributed by Plaion.
On the documentary side is are Stewart Buck’s Uncovering Wolfen, the story behind Woodstock director Michael Wadleigh’s 1981 ecological thriller, Wolfen; and Christian Genzel’s Finding Planet Porno: The Wild Journey of American Cinema’s First Outlaw, a look at the life and career of adult filmmaker Howard Ziehm, whose Mona the Virgin Nymph (1970) was the first explicit feature to receive theatrical distribution in the U.S.
The 2025 Oldenburg film festival runs September 10-14.