Almost three years after the tragic death of Halyna Hutchins, a Ukrainian cinematographer on the set of RUST, Camerimage is set to “honor her memory and remind the world of her legacy” by screening the movie. Festival fans are being boiling mad about this decision.
World’s premiere of screening “RUST” at Camerimage 2024
Here’s the festival’s statement as stated: “Almost three years after the tragic death of Halyna Hutchins, a Ukrainian cinematographer who was part of the festival family, Camerimage is set to honor her memory and remind the world of her legacy. During this year’s edition of the EnergaCAMERIMAGE Festival, a special World Premiere screening of the film Rust will take place, followed by a unique panel discussion with the film’s director Joel Souza, cinematographer Bianca Cline, and Stephen Lighthill, Halyna’s mentor from her beloved film school, AFI. In the panel, following the screening of Rust, the filmmakers will discuss events surrounding the film, offering insight into continuing production after Halyna’s death. 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. During the panel, they will discuss the unique visual style that Halyna developed on set and explain how Bianca Cline, who took over her work, managed to remarkably replicate Halyna’s style. Thanks to Cline’s skill, the cinematography remains consistent throughout the film. The discussion will also touch on important issues in the film industry. Halyna’s story will serve as a starting point for a conversation about the role of women in cinematography and their contributions to the art of filmmaking. Another key topic of the discussion will be safety on set.
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. 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.
EnergaCAMERIMAGE Festival director Marek Zydowicz
The Western will be shown to the public for the first time during this year’s edition of EnergaCAMERIMAGE, making this a unique festival premiere and fulfilling a dream of Halyna, who, even during the early stages of Rust’s production, convinced director Joel Souza that their work should be shown at EnergaCAMERIMAGE. It is a great honor that the film will be seen for the first time in Toruń, Poland – in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, where viewers will have a one-of-a-kind opportunity to reflect on the role of cinematographers in the storytelling process.
Rust 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”.
Festival fans are commenting
It appears this decision made festival fans boiling mad, and the anger is being thrown on Camerimage’s social media outlets. Explore just a portion of the comments below:
- No project is worth dying for. This is far from a tribute to Halyna, even if she did want to show up at the festival, this isn’t the way. There have been 3 festivals since she died in which to honor her memory – you don’t do it with the film that she didn’t survive, that’s not a legacy.
- I’m all for memorializing Halyna and her beautiful work but not by screening and thereby promoting the film that killed her.
- This is absolutely an atrocious, tasteless decision on the part of the festival.
- Honor the cinematographer, not the film that killed her and should never have been completed.
- This doesn’t honor Halyna. It legitimizes the producers who created the environment that led to her death
- Camerimage is about honoring the craft and showing *Rust* would ignore the human cost that came with its production. A total misstep and the opposite message of what the industry needs!
- Screen a 20-minute reel of some of her work if you want to celebrate her,
- Premiering a film that disregarded Health and Safety to the point of having the cinematographer killed is absurd in the biggest cinematographer’s film festival.
What is your opinion about this decision?
I agree that RUST should never be shown. It’s a film tainted with blood. It should be a call to action for all producers to never ever again under evaluate safety on set.
“Honor the cinematographer, not the film that killed her and should never have been completed.” I agree with this and all the statements supporting the decision not to screen the film Rust, that killed the cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins. Instead, to honor Ms. Hutchins, the Camerimage Festival should propose or publish an extended set of rules to follow on-set from pre-production, production, and post-production to warrant safety all over the spectrum of filmmaking. It’s a shame for the Camerimage Festival to honor her by screening the film that, for lack of safety, killed Ms. Hutchins and left an orphaned family and an empty chair in the filmmaking field. Also, a shame on the director and cinematographer who agreed to continue working and finished a film that killed Ms. Hutchins.