TORUN – Alec Baldwin’s Western “Rust” had its world premiere Wednesday at a film festival in Poland with a dedication to cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was fatally shot in an accident on the set three years ago.
Organizers called for a minute of silence before showing the film, which opened to a full house at the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography Camerimage in the city of Torun, and received applause at the end.
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Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer, was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, in October 2021 when the revolver went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — and the revolver fired.
Souza introduced the film at the festival, a popular industry event dedicated to cinematography. He told the audience that initially after the accident he could not have imagined continuing with the production, or even working on a movie set or writing again.
“It just hurt too much,” he said.
But Hutchins' husband, Matthew, wanted the film to be finished, and came on as an executive producer.
“It was important to him that the people who knew and loved Halyna get to see her final work," Souza said. The mission became “to preserve every single frame that I could of hers, and to honor her final work.”
“Rust” — which includes scene after scene of shootouts — is the story of a 13-year-old boy who is sentenced to be hanged after he fatally shoots a rancher by accident. He goes on the run with his estranged grandfather, played by Baldwin.
Bianca Cline, the cinematographer who finished the project, said Hutchins established the look and feel of the film, and filmed more than half of it. She studied Hutchins' notes to honor her vision.
Hutchins, 42, was a Ukrainian cinematographer on the rise and a mother of a young son. She grew up on a remote Soviet military base and worked on documentary films in Eastern Europe before studying film in Los Angeles and embarking on a promising movie-making career.
Ahead of the premiere, Hutchins’ mother, who is suing Baldwin and the production, said she was refusing to attend and that she viewed the film as an attempt by Baldwin to “unjustly profit” from her daughter’s death. Baldwin was also not present.
“It was always my hope to meet my daughter in Poland to watch her work come alive on screen," said Hutchins’ mother, Olga Solovey, in a statement issued by her lawyer, Gloria Allred. “Alec Baldwin continues to increase my pain with his refusal to apologize to me and his refusal to take responsibility for her death."
Melina Spadone, a representative for Rust Movie Productions, issued a statement saying: “Gloria Allred’s misrepresentation of both the Camerimage festival and any profit motivation is disappointing. The decision to complete ‘Rust’ was made with the full support of Halyna’s family."
"The Camerimage festival celebrates the artistry of cinematographers; it is not a festival for buyers. None of the producers of Rust stand to benefit financially from the film. The suggestion that those involved in completing Halyna Hutchins’ film were motivated by profit is disrespectful to those who worked tirelessly to honor her legacy.”
Filmmaker Rachel Mason, a friend of Hutchins who was tapped by Matthew Hutchins to make a documentary about his late wife, told the audience that Solovey told her that she wanted the film to be completed because of how important the project was to her daughter.
Mason also described all those who continued to work on the film after the tragedy on set as “heroic.”
“You could just feel and see the trauma that they had gone through,” she said.
“Halyna didn’t get the chance to do the biggest films that she was expected to do, that we all knew she would. ‘Rust’ was that film. ‘Rust’ was going to change her life but instead it took her life. And the people that feel the pain of that most are the people that made the film,” Mason said. “I really hope the world can understand that it was a courageous act to complete this film.”
A New Mexico judge dismissed an involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin in the fatal shooting. The case was thrown out halfway through trial on allegations that police and prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense.
The film armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, received the maximum sentence of 18 months in jail for involuntary manslaughter. A judge found that her recklessness amounted to a serious violent offense. Prosecutors blamed Gutierrez-Reed for unwittingly bringing live ammunition onto the set of “Rust,” where it was expressly prohibited, and for failing to follow basic gun-safety protocols.
This year's Camerimage festival, where Cate Blanchett is serving as jury president, has already been beset by controversy.
“Blitz” director Steve McQueen dropped out of the festival to protest an editorial about female cinematographers written by festival founder Marek Żydowicz in which he argued that greater representation of female cinematographers could lead to mediocrity.
Director Coralie Fargeat pulled her film “The Substance” due to the comments, which led to protests by several cinematography groups. Żydowicz has since apologized.