Rust, the Alec Baldwin-starring Western that was struck by tragedy after the on-set death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins three years ago, is finally set to premiere this week.
The film will make its debut on Wednesday (November 20) at the Camerimage International Film Festival in Poland, an event specialising in achievements in cinematography.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film is in such high demand that the event’s ticketing website crashed on Tuesday morning shortly after tickets became available.
An error message on the site posted shortly after 8am read: “The Camerimage portal is currently undergoing system maintenance.”
Prior to the screening, the festival will host a panel discussion featuring Rust writer-director Joel Souza, who was struck by the same bullet that killed Hutchins. It will also include Stephen Lighthill, who mentored Hutchins, and Bianca Cline, the cinematographer who stepped in to finish the movie.
While the decision to host the film’s premiere at a cinematography-focused event has proved controversial, organizers have emphasized that Hutchins, who was Ukranian, had previously attended the festival on several occasions and had expressed her hope that one day her work would screen there.
In July, Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter case was thrown out after just a week of testimony.
The 66-year-old actor was handling the prop gun that accidentally discharged, killing Hutchins and injuring Souza. He had been facing up to 18 months in prison.
Baldwin broke down in tears and hugged his attorneys and his wife Hilaria after Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer announced her decision at the end of a chaotic day in a New Mexico courtroom.
Judge Sommer dismissed the case with prejudice based on the misconduct of police and prosecutors over the withholding of evidence from the defense. The prosecution will not be able to file charges against Baldwin again in Hutchins’ death.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film’s armorer, had already been convicted of involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
In September, she was denied a new trial after her lawyers failed to convince a judge that their client had been deprived a fair hearing by the same evidence dispute.
Prosecutors blamed Gutierrez-Reed for unwittingly bringing live ammunition onto the set of Rust and for failing to follow basic gun safety protocols.
Earlier this year, director Souza said that the accidental killing of Hutchins during the film’s shooting had “ruined” him.
“When I tell someone it ruined me, I don’t mean in the sense that people might generally think,” he told Vanity Fair.
“I don’t mean that it put my career in ruins. I mean, internally, the person I was just went away. That stopped.”
