Alec Baldwin’s ‘Rust’ Sets World Premiere at Camerimage Festival in Poland

Alec Baldwin’s Rust will hold its world premiere at Camerimage in Poland nearly three years after the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the film’s set in New Mexico.

The annual cinematography festival, officially known as EnergaCAMERIMAGE, will hold a special world premiere alongside a panel discussion with the film’s director Joel Souza, cinematographer Bianca Cline, and Stephen Lighthill, Hutchins’ mentor from her film school, AFI. The festival takes place Nov. 16-23 in Toruń, Poland.

The panel will focus on “the events surrounding the film, offering insight into continuing production after Hutchins death,” according to the festival. It also confirmed the discussion would be about “maintaining Hutchins’ artistic vision, as tremendously challenging as it was for the entire crew, was really important to the filmmakers, hoping to fulfill their duty to complete her work.”

“We knew that our event was important to her, and that she felt at home among cinematographers from all over the world, who have been gathering at Camerimage for over 30 years,” festival director Marek Zydowicz said in a statement. “During the festival, we honored Halyna’s memory with a moment of silence and a panel of cinematographers discussed safety on set. Now, once again, together with cinematographers and film enthusiasts, we will have this special opportunity to remember her.”

During the production of Rust in 2021, Hutchins was fatally shot on set and Souza was injured after Baldwin discharged a prop gun with a live round. Following a lengthy break and a slew of lawsuits surrounding the incident, the film resumed production in April of 2023. Baldwin described the completion of the movie as “nothing less than a miracle.”

“It’s been a long and difficult road. But we reach the end of the trail today,” he wrote, sharing his congratulations to Souza, Cline, who took over as cinematographer, and the rest of the cast and crew. 

Hutchins’ death continues to be the subject of legal concerns. Last month, the film’s armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who is currently serving an 18-month sentence for the shooting death of Hutchins, lost her bid for a new trial and release from prison.

Santa Fe Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer said Gutierrez-Reed failed to persuade the court that her involuntary manslaughter conviction last March might have been averted if she had known about certain evidence that only came to light through the subsequent, related trial of Alec Baldwin on the same charge. In Baldwin’s case, his trial ended in the dramatic dismissal of his single involuntary manslaughter charge in July after Marlowe Sommer ruled prosecutors “unilaterally withheld” information related to a batch of ammunition turned over by a so-called good Samaritan the day Gutierrez-Reed was found guilty.

In their verdict last year, the jurors who convicted Gutierrez-Reed found that she negligently loaded the live bullet into the old-fashioned Pietta revolver that Baldwin discharged during a rehearsal. Baldwin has continued to maintain that he did not pull the trigger.

Rust, set in 19th century Wyoming, follows a 13-year-old boy (Patrick Scott McDermott) who is left to fend for himself and his younger brother following their parents’ deaths. He goes on the run with his estranged grandfather (Baldwin) after the old man is sentenced to hang for the accidental killing of a local rancher.