‘Rust’ Receives Warm Reception at Camerimage World Premiere (Without Alec Baldwin in Attendance)

Three years after the tragic on-set shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, Alec Baldwin’s indie Western Rust was finally unveiled before the public on Wednesday — and the reception was one of emphatic embrace.

The film premiered in a supportive environment at Poland’s Camerimage Film Festival, an industry-respected specialty event focusing on achievements in cinematography. Much of the assembled crowd at the premiere was made up of working directors of photography and production professionals. As the lights came up on the screening, Rust‘s director Joel Souza and Bianca Cline, the cinematographer who stepped in to finish the movie after a wrongful death lawsuit was settled, were greeted by a rousing round of applause.

Prior to the screening, Camerimage’s director Kazimierz Suwala invited the crowd to stand up and observe a minute of silence in honor of Hutchins. The festival’s founder Marek Zydowicz then took the mic to say that he had agreed to host Rust‘s premiere because “it was the dream of Halyna” to have her work shown at the event. “This is a screening for Halyna’s friends — all of the cinematographers, directors and the filmmaker community here at Camerimage,” Zydowicz said.

Hutchins’ close friend Rachel Mason, who has been working on a documentary for the past three years about the late DP’s life, then gave an emotional introduction to Rust, attempting to set the record straight on the festival and filmmakers’ motivations for seeing the movie through to its premiere. She noted how “there was so much controversy and difficulty surrounding this film” in the aftermath of the accident, and that she considered Souza and Cline to be “real heroes” for returning to set to complete the project that took their friend and collaborator’s life.

“I really hope the world can understand that this was a courageous act to complete this film,” Mason said. She noted how she asked many members of the Rust team, during production of her doc, “Why would you put yourself back into your most difficult emotional nightmare?” She explained that they all responded that they wanted to finish the film because they believed an eventual sale of the project’s release rights would benefit Hutchins’ widower and son, who gained a financial stake in the movie as part of a settlement that was reached with Rust‘s producers in the aftermath of the incident.

Mason said: “They thought of one thing: the fact that [Halyna] has a son, and that son doesn’t get to have a mother anymore, and if they could do something for that little boy, then why would they not be there?”

Souza kept his remarks short before the screening, thanking Camerimage and his collaborators — and his wife, who he said was his “hero” for helping him through all of the hardships of the past few years.

“You know, we are here in a place that [Halyna] loved so much, probably second only to being on set,” Souza said to the Camerimage crowd. “I want to thank you all for coming and for just taking a few hours out of your day to celebrate my friend — her art and her talent.”

Rust is arguably the hottest ticket at Camerimage this year. On the morning that tickets to the premiere became available, the festival’s ticketing system temporarily crashed amid an overwhelming surge in demand.

But the film’s journey to Camerimage was fraught even in its final stages. When the premiere was announced a month ago, some DPs took to social media to argue that the decision to show the film was a promotional move made in poor taste, given that its creation caused the death of one of their compatriots. The festival has emphasized, however, that the premiere was only intended to honor the work and wishes of Hutchins, a past attendee of Camerimage who privately told her collaborators that she hoped her work would one day screen there. Suwala also told The Hollywood Reporter that Baldwin was deliberately not invited, because of the media spectacle his presence would likely generate. 

He added that “Halyna’s mother, who is Ukrainian, is going to attend the screening if she’s able to leave her country, but it’s not easy right now because of the war.” 

The night before the premiere, though, Hutchins’ mother, Olga Solovey, and her attorney sent a statement to the media announcing her displeasure with the festival screening. 

“Alec Baldwin continues to increase my pain with his refusal to apologize to me and his refusal to take responsibility for her death,” Solovey’s letter said. “Instead, he seeks to unjustly profit from his killing of my daughter. That is the reason why I refuse to attend the festival for the promotion of Rust, especially now when there is still no justice for my daughter.”

Solovey’s statement appears to have caught both the festival and the Rust team entirely by surprise. In her remarks before the screening, Mason said she visited Ukraine to interview Solovey for her documentary. Reading a transcript of a portion of her interview, Mason said Solovey told her at the time, “I know that filming of the movie Rust is resumed. I wanted this to happen. … I will watch the movie, absolutely. I want to see my daughter’s work. It’s her big work.”

Prior to the premiere, Souza and Cline participated in an in-depth feature with THR to share the story of how Rust was finished. Throughout Camerimage, Souza and Cline have been accompanied by the Rust production’s attorney — an indication of just how litigiously charged the situation around the project remains.

Baldwin‘s involuntary manslaughter trial ended in July with the dismissal of the case after a last-minute hearing over how police and prosecutors treated a handful of bullets. The actor and the film’s other producers still face civil lawsuits, though, including from Solovey. 

Rust tells the story of a 13-year-old boy (Patrick Scott McDermott) who accidentally kills a rancher in 1880s Wyoming and goes on the run with his grandfather, played by Baldwin as the title character, Harland Rust. 

On the afternoon Hutchins was killed in October 2021 — roughly halfway through filming — the production was rehearsing inside a church set on in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Souza had leaned in to see the camera angle that Hutchins was setting up of Baldwin sitting in a church pew, and Baldwin was practicing a crossdraw of his character’s Colt revolver, which was supposed to be loaded with dummy rounds. How a live bullet got onto the set of a movie remains the core unsolved mystery of Rust despite two criminal trials and an investigation by New Mexico’s safety board. The accidental shot that killed Hutchins also struck Souza in the shoulder, narrowly missing his spine. 

Rust has sold in some foreign territories, but producers are still seeking a U.S. distributor. The financial path forward for the film is unclear, with its tragic history considered by many in the industry as both a potential attractant and repellent for audiences. 

In the months after Hutchins’ death, her widower, Matthew Hutchins, reached a settlement agreement with Rust producers, including Baldwin. The film’s competition was part of that deal, with Matthew named as executive producer and with his and Halyna’s son, Andros, to benefit financially from any eventual sale. 

“The profitability of the movie will trigger the payments to the family,” Melina Spadone, counsel for Rust Movie Productions, LLC and for Thomasville Pictures, the company owned by Rust producer Ryan Smith and Allen Cheney, previously told THR in a statement.