Alec Baldwin Western ‘Rust’ To Debut At Poland’s Camerimage Film Festival

The 2024 Camerimage Film Festival will hand a unique world premiere screening to Rust, the Alec Baldwin starring Western which became global news after the fatal on-set shooting of Ukrainian cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. 

Alongside a debut screening, Camerimage will also hold a panel discussion with the film’s director Joel Souza, cinematographer Bianca Cline, and Hutchins’ longtime mentor Stephen Lighthill.

The panel will follow the screening. Festival organizers have said the filmmakers will discuss events surrounding the film and how the continued production with Cline after Hutchins’ death. Organizers have said the group will also discuss the role of women in cinematography and safety on film sets. 

A native of neighboring Ukraine, Hutchins is said to have lobbied Souza early during the film’s production to screen the project in Poland at Camerimage — a festival that honors international cinematographers. The festival’s 2021 edition fell just weeks after Hutchins’ death.

“During the festival, we honored Halyna’s memory with a moment of silence and a panel of cinematographers discussed safety on set,” Camerimage festival director Marek Zydowicz said in a statement this morning. “Now, once again, together with cinematographers and film enthusiasts, we will have this special opportunity to remember her.”

It’s currently unclear if Baldwin will attend the debut screening. The actor was cleared of involuntary manslaughter in August after a court ruled that key evidence was mishandled. The film’s armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed is currently serving an 18-month prison sentence for involuntary manslaughter.

Hutchins was killed and Souza was injured on October 21, 2021 after the Colt .45 gun Baldwin was pointing at the cinematographer fired off a live round during a rehearsal at the Bonanza Creek Ranch near Santa Fe, New Mexico, where the indie Western was filming. Baldwin, who always insisted he did not pull the trigger and the gun discharged on its own, had faced up to 18 months in state prison if found guilty. The shooting and it’s fallout remain a hot button topic among cinematographers and other below-the-line industry workers.

The film tells the story of a 13-year-old boy who, left to fend for himself and his younger brother following their parents’ deaths in 1880s Wyoming, goes on the run with his long-estranged grandfather after he’s sentenced to hang for the accidental killing of a local rancher.

Camerimage runs from November 16-23.