Alec Baldwin’s Western Rust had its world premiere on 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.
Organisers called for a minute’s 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.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer, was pointing a gun at Ms Hutchins during a rehearsal outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, in October 2021 when the revolver went off, killing Ms Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.
Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — and the revolver fired.
Mr 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 again.
“It just hurt too much,” he said.
But Ms 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,” Mr Souza said. The mission became “to preserve every single frame that I could of hers, and to honour her final work”.
Rust, which includes several scenes of shooting violence, 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 Ms Hutchins established the look and feel of the film, and filmed more than half of it. She studied Ms Hutchins’ notes to honour her vision.
Ahead of the premiere, Ms Hutchins’ mother, who is suing Baldwin and the production, refused to attend and said she viewed it 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 Ms Hutchins’ mother, Olga Solovey, in a statement issued by her lawyer, Gloria Allred.
“Alec Baldwin continues to increase my pain with his refusal to apologise to me and his refusal to take responsibility for her death,” Ms Solovey added.
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 honour her legacy.”
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 defence.
The film armourer, 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 offence.
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.
Ms 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.
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 against an editorial about female cinematographers written by festival founder Marek Zydowicz that McQueen viewed as sexist. Director Coralie Fargeat pulled her film The Substance overo the comments. Mr Zydowicz has since apologised.
He earlier said organisers were aware that Rust could “stir emotions”.
“However, we wanted to pay tribute to Halyna, who respected our festival and who wanted to show her film here,” he said in a statement. “There is no commercial undertone, either from our festival or the filmmakers.”
Filmmaker Rachel Mason, a friend of Ms Hutchins, described all those who continued to work on the film after the shooting 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.”
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