Jessica Chastain was selected for this year’s American Cinematheque Award, and showed up in a lovely embellished Gucci dress to the ceremony on Friday. The American Cinematheque Award has fairly broad criteria: “an extraordinary artist in the entertainment industry who is fully engaged in his or her work and is committed to making a significant contribution to the art of the motion pictures.” It’s not strictly a lifetime-achievement award (past honorees include Scarlett Johansson and Helen Mirren), it really runs the gamut. Friends and coworkers turned out in person and via video to fete Jessica, including Octavia Spencer, Oscar Isaac, Guillermo del Toro, Jeremy Strong, and Al Pacino, to name a few. Then when it was time for Jessica to accept her award at the end of the evening, she talked about how theater, an education, and her career have been liberating forces in her life that enabled her to become “the first in my family to not get pregnant as a teenager,” and instead see her dreams through to fruition.

Taking the stage at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, the star noted how her great-grandmother, grandmother, aunt and mother all became mothers before they were 17, forced to drop out of school and give up their career aspirations to support their families. Chastain said her mother was just 22 and caring for three young children on her own, as the family faced evictions and she went to school with basic needs unmet.

“We existed on the margins of society, but theater became my lifeline. It was a way to feel seen, to use my voice and to break free from the expectations that had bound my family for generations. I became determined to escape the cycle,” Chastain continued. “I was the first in my family to not get pregnant as a teenager, the first to finish high school, and the first to attend college. And attending The Juilliard School didn’t just change my life, it showed my family that a different path was possible.”

The actress explained that through her roles, “I’ve worked to dismantle the restrictive roles that society imposes on women. Too often, women are valued only for their sexual desirability or their function as mothers, reducing them to bodies in service of everyone but themselves.” She had early success on that mission when in 2013 she had two top films at the box office with Mama and Zero Dark Thirty, which was “proof that audiences were hungry for stories of powerful, multi-faceted women.”

“As I stand here tonight, I am mindful of the state of the world, our country, our politics and the misogyny that persists. So many women are still taught to find their worth in roles defined by men,” Chastain told the crowd. “I am so proud to be part of an industry that is really evolving. Today, films show girls that they don’t need a prince to save them, they can save the day themselves,” emphasizing the need to show little girls and boys that “a woman’s true value isn’t in her beauty or her role as someone’s partner, but in her intellect and her resilience and her strength.”

She closed out by thanking her family and friends, choking up when shouting out her mother and grandmother, who were both in attendance at the event. She also added, “To everyone in this room, I urge you to consider the authority of the stories that we choose to tell. Filmmaking is a political act. We’re shaping not only our world but also the world for future generations.”

[From The Hollywood Reporter]

Filmmaking is a political act, as is anyone from an under-served background getting an education. It strikes me every single time watching Steve Kornacki breaking down the way demographics tend to vote, when he says cities and college-educated people always lean more democratic. So the more time we spend living with each other, and the more education we’re afforded, the more we develop values that look out for all of us. Jessica has variously spoken about these things before, always championing women’s reproductive rights and shouting out Planned Parenthood. She’s also acknowledged that her poor background takes many by surprise. I mean, from a casting point of view, Jessica totally has an aristocratic look. (And not for nothing, but the stunning red hair and way she looks in designer clothing also contribute to that effect.) I found it utterly powerful and emotional to hear Jessica speak so candidly about her family with her mother and grandmother right there in the audience. Obviously, as Jessica herself notes, we’re in a precarious time where these comments land with more weight (for those who care to listen, whether family or not). I appreciate Jessica so much for pressing her peers to think thoughtfully about the stories they choose to tell. As a mentor once said to me: the work that you do matters, so do what matters.

Photos credit: Nicky Nelson/Wenn/Avalon, Jennifer Graylock-Graylock.com/Avalon, Nicky Nelson/Wenn/Avalon