Berlin, Feb 16 (IANS): Berlin Film Festival jury President Kristen Stewart doesn't buy the talk that movies are dead. At a press conference in Germany on Thursday afternoon to commemorate the launch of the 73rd annual Berlinale, she declared that cinema will live forever, reports 'Variety'.

"Take a quick glance at your rear view mirror," said Stewart, taking questions from reporters, according to 'Variety'. "We have never stopped telling each other stories."

She then nodded to headlines about weakened international box office receipts as a result of the pandemic. "How much it costs, obviously like we're headed towards oblivion on that one. I also think that there's a sort of, like, vital, desperate need in all of us to create something. And yeah, I think when you start really fixating on, like, the industry, it's easy to be like, 'Oh, God, it's all falling apart!' But I just think that there's something vital, that's undeniable, will never go away," 'Variety' quotes Stewart as saying.

Stewart first attended the Berlinale in 2010 with the independent production, "Welcome to the Rileys", alongside director Jake Scott.

"I guess in full transparency, I'm kind of shaking," she said about her role as the festival's President, according to 'Variety'. "It's not a weight that I don't fully understand. I'm just ready, ready to be changed by all the films and changed by the people around us. I think that's what we're here for."

Stewart recently finished directing her first feature, "The Chronology of Water", and she's currently working on a paranormal reality series, for which she recently issued an open casting call. She is exec producing the project, which focuses on LGBTQ+ ghost hunters.