Kristen Stewart picked up a Cesar Award Friday night at the annual film awards ceremony in Paris, France, becoming the first American actress to do so.

Kristen Stewart Wins The Cesar

Stewart, 24, was awarded the Cesar for the Best Actress in a Supporting Role category for her work in Olivier Assayas’s Clouds of Sils Maria. In the film, Stewart plays Valentine, a personal assistant to actress Maria Enders, portrayed by Juliette Binoche. The movie centers on Maria and Valentine’s relationship after the former agrees to star as the older female character in a play in which she’d played the young ingénue 20 years earlier.

After accepting the award, Stewart fielded questions from press, who wondered if she’d return to French cinema in her career. “The reasons why people make films here in France are very different from the reasons why people make movies in Hollywood,” Stewart explained, adding, “And, I prefer it here a little bit.”

Since Twilight ended, Stewart’s career has made a shift away from mega-blockbusters, with the actress returning to more independent projects that have earned her critical acclaim. In addition to Clouds of Sils Maria, Stewart has earned rave reviews in Camp X-Ray and Still Alice with the Oscar-nominated Julianne Moore.

Stewart has three more films coming out in 2014, Anesthesia, Equals and American Ultra with her Adventureland costar Jesse Eisenberg.