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A premiere screening of the film “Rust” will not be attended by the mother of the late cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

A tribute screening of the movie at Poland’s Camerimage Film Festival on Wednesday is set to honor Hutchins who was shot on the film set in 2021. But the mother of the Ukrainian cinematographer will not be in attendance so as not to promote the film starring Alec Baldwin who had involuntary manslaughter charges against him dropped this year.

“Alec Baldwin continues to increase my pain with his refusal to apologize to me and his refusal to take responsibility for her death,” Olga Solovey said in a statement to Deadline on Tuesday.

“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,” she added.

Solovey’s attorney Gloria Allred said in another statement that Baldwin had “disrespected” the family and “has never called them to apologize.”

“Even worse, he argued, through his attorneys, that Halyna was emotionally distant from her family in Ukraine. That is false, hurtful, and insulting. Further, the decision not to even call the family to say he is sorry is cruel and dishonors Halyna and her memory,” the statement read.

“Now, a decision has been made to promote “Rust” to buyers in order to make a profit for Alec Baldwin and others that had a role in Halyna’s death. Olga, Anatolii, and Svetlana will not agree with this plan to exploit Halyna’s death,” Allred concluded.

Baldwin has maintained his innocence in Hutchins’ tragic death while Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer for the film, is in prison serving an 18-month sentence for involuntary manslaughter.

Hutchins’ father and sister also would be opting out of an appearance at the screening according to Deadline which noted that it was not yet clear if Matt Hutchins, her husband, and an executive producer on the film would be there.

“Camerimage announced plans to screen Rust in October. The planned screening quickly proved controversial, with many of Hutchins’ former peers who publicly shared their concerns about whether they thought it was appropriate for Camerimage to serve as a launchpad for the flick,” Deadline reported.

Camerimage’s director Kazimierz Suwala spoke with The Hollywood Reporter ahead of the festival to emphasize the “motivation” for premiering the film was simply to honor Hutchins.

“We didn’t invite Alec Baldwin, and we never considered doing so. That would be too distracting. What this is about is honoring Halyna’s dreams for her work,” he said.

Director Joel Souza and cinematographer Bianca Cline who replaced Hutchins gave an emotional introduction to the film and announced a Q&A panel would follow the screening.

“When you watch this film today, you’ll be experiencing the world through Halyna’s eyes,” Cline said.

Rachel Mason, a friend of Hutchins, described “Rust” as “a very misunderstood film.”

Suwala invited attendees to stand for a minute of silence in honor of Hutchins before the screening and Marek Zydowicz, founder of the festival, explained how “it was the dream of Halyna” to showcase her work 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.

Frieda Powers
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