Kamshi Ahmed
The western Rust has premiered in Poland, three years after cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was accidentally shot and killed on set in New Mexico.
Organisers of Poland’s Camerimage International Film Festival said the screening was a tribute to the 42-year-old Ukrainian-born cinematographer, who was a fan of the event and had attended in the past.
The movie’s star Alec Baldwin was not invited and did not attend the premiere.
Writer and director Joel Souza, who was wounded in the shooting, told the BBC at the premiere that at one point he “couldn’t even conceive of ever being back on the set ever again, it just hurt too much”.
He said he changed his mind and decided to complete the film after speaking to Hutchins’ husband, Matt.
But the announcement that Camerimage in the northern Polish city of Torun was going to give the movie its international debut has been criticised by some prominent cinematographers in Hollywood for being disrespectful to Hutchins’ memory.
Hutchins’ mother, Olga Solovey, who is suing the production and Alec Baldwin in a civil action, didn’t attend either.
In a statement issued by her lawyer she said she regards the premiere as an attempt to profit from her daughter’s death.
“Alec Baldwin continues to increase my pain with his refusal to apologise to me and his refusal to take responsibility for her death,” she said.
In October 2021, Baldwin was rehearsing a scene on set with a gun, which was supposed to be loaded with dummy rounds, when the weapon fired a live round, killing Hutchins and wounding Souza.
In July, a judge dismissed an involuntary manslaughter case against Baldwin after police and prosecutors withheld evidence from the defence.
In March, the armourer on the film set, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and is serving an 18-month prison sentence.
Prosecutors said she failed to notice that live bullets had mixed with dummy rounds in a box of ammunition on set. She has appealed against the verdict.
Set in 1882 in Wyoming, Rust tells the story of a 13-year-old boy who is sentenced to be hanged after he accidentally kills a rancher. He goes on the run with his grandfather, Baldwin’s Harlan Rust.
Souza, who attended the premiere with Bianca Cline who replaced Hutchins as the film’s cinematographer, refused several requests to complete the film after the tragic shooting, said Hutchins’ husband, Matt, convinced him to complete the film, which is dedicated to her.
“At first I didn’t really know if I wanted to do this to be honest, but as I found out that this is what Matt wanted, this is what the family wanted, it started to change the equation for me,” he told the BBC.
“It was going to be more about honouring her legacy and her memory, saying that her final work was completed and that began to change my mind on things,” he added.
Both he and Cline acknowledged that many in the industry were uncomfortable with his decision.
“Everybody’s angry, we’re angry as well. It’s something tragic and it’s hard to deal with. Some people think it’s better to deal with that through not participating and other people think it’s honourable like we do. I don’t think there’s any right or wrong answer to this,” Cline told.
Before the screening, Rachel Mason, a close friend of Hutchins who filmed a documentary about the making of Rust, recalled how difficult it was to complete the movie with all the controversy surrounding it.
She said some crew members told her not to film them on the closed set, in case, she said, it was discovered they had worked on Rust “and I might never get a job again”.
Crew came back to finish the filming after they realised it might help Hutchins’ family.
“She had this amazing gift of becoming friends very, very fast with people. And they all fell in love with her,” she said.
Ms Mason also recounted a conversation with Hutchins’ mother 18 months ago during which she told her she wanted the film to be completed because it was her daughter’s “big work”.
Rust depicts the manhunt for grandfather and grandson amidst a backdrop of snow-capped mountains and tumbleweed dirt towns.
It knowingly acknowledges classic westerns including John Ford’s ‘The Searchers’ and Sergio Leone’s ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’.
Souza was very close to his own grandfather, who, he said, loved westerns.
Several people I spoke to after the screening enjoyed the movie with Jan, a film colourist from Warsaw calling it “a classic western”.
Leonora, a cinematographer from Belarus said it was brilliant and she had cried all the way through Ms Mason’s speech.
One viewer noted the many gunfight scenes involving Alec Baldwin could be distracting.
“All the time as I was thinking about it, especially during the gunfight scenes, it was hard not to get pulled back out of the movie, especially when Alec Baldwin’s holding a gun, but most of the time it was just a really, really enjoyable experience,” Maciej from Torun said.
In a statement, Melina Spadone, representative for Rust Movie Productions, defended the festival against some of the criticism.
“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.”
