Ukrainian cinematographer Halyna Anatoliivna Hutchins (1979–October 21, 2021) passed away. She contributed to more than 30 movies, TV miniseries, and short films, such as Darlin’, Archenemy and Blindfire. She was fatally murdered on October 21, 2021, by actor Alec Baldwin when they were filming the scene for the movie Rust.
What is known about Hutchins’ childhood?
In the Ukrainian SSR’s Horodets, Hutchins took birth in 1979. She was raised in the city of Murmansk, Russia, which is a Soviet Union military base. Her father was a member of the Soviet Navy there. She identified as a “army brat.” Jim Hemphill, a film historian, claims that she first developed a passion for movies while residing on the military installation.
What was Halyna Hutchins’ educational background?
She went to National Agricultural University and Kyiv National University, where she initially majored in economics before switching to journalism. After earning an international degree in journalism, Hutchins worked as an investigative journalist on documentary films in Eastern Europe.
She earned her degree in producing from the TFT Professional Program of UCLA in 2010. Upon meeting with Bob Primes, a filmmaker, in Los Angeles. Bob urged Hutchins to submit an application to the American Film Institute Conservatory, where he taught. She was admitted, started a two-year master’s degree there in 2013, and graduated from it in 2015.
There, Stephen Lighthill served as her tutor.
What was Halyna Hutchins’ Journey in filmmaking?
In order to concentrate on filmmaking, Hutchins relocated to Los Angeles and began working into firms like that of production and fashion photography.
She worked on the 2006 Wild Pictures film World’s Tallest Man, which was about Leonid Stadnyk and the Discovery Channel is where it had it’s premiere on.
Her thesis film, Hidden, co-directed by Rayan Farzad, was shown at the Austin Film Festival, AFI Fest, LA Shorts Fest, and Camerimage International Film Festival.
She was one of the eight first-ever female cinematographers to join the Fox DP Lab program in 2018, which was created to provide women cinematographers more opportunities.
American cinematographers recognized her as one of the “10 emerging cinematographers who are placing their mark” in 2019.
She oversaw the photography for Adam Egypt Mortimer’s upcoming movie Archenemy. Mortimer had remarked of her, “Her AFI training and her proficiency with the arithmetic of LUT settings gave us the chance to see the best touch of the video ever while shooting digitally. Shooting digital,” and that “her tastes and understanding of what is cinematic were a huge benefit for implementing our aesthetic.”
What were some of her works?
Her contributions to the movies Darlin’ (2019), Blindfire (2020), and The Mad Hatter are also acknowledged (2021). Hollywood.com, which highlighted the movie after it screened in the Narrative Feature Competition at the South by Southwest film festival in March 2019, gave her credit for her cinematographic work on Darlin’.
What was Halyna Hutchins known for aside from filmmaking?
In the US and Canada, Hutchins was a part of the crew and technical workers in the entertainment industry’s labour organisations, the International Cinematographers Guild and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. Days before she passed away, she backed the IATSE strike too
Who was Halyna Hutchins married to?
While visiting the US, she met her American husband Matthew. Their son is called Andros. She kept her Ukrainian citizenship while residing in the US, was proud of her roots, and visited Ukraine frequently.
What was the cause of Halyna Hutchins’ death?
Hutchins was working as the Rust film’s director of photography on location in the La Cienega, New Mexico, Around October 21, 2021.
She was shot to death and director Joel Souza was hurt when actor Alec Baldwin accidentally discharged a Pietta.45 Colt revolver that was being used as a prop. Later that day, as she was being taken to Albuquerque, in the University of New Mexico Hospital where she passed away. The following day, Baldwin issued a statement in which he expressed shock and sadness about the occurrence. He promised to work with the police and made his family available for help.
Local IATSE chapters planned and hosted a candlelight vigil at the Albuquerque Civic Plaza on October 23. It garnered a sizable crowd. In Hollywood, California, in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, she was laid to rest.
On the 15th of the month of February , 2022, it was revealed that Hutchins’ family had sued Baldwin and the rest of the Rust cast and crew, claiming that their carelessness and cost-cutting caused Hutchins’ untimely death on the set.
What was Halyna’s Legacy?
After Hutchins passed away in October 2021, her colleagues and friends at the American Film Institute created the Memorial Scholarship Fund under her name, to aid in the training of female cinematographers.
Matt Hutchins, Hutchins’ widower, praised the initiative and urged anyone desiring to pay tribute to her memory to contribute to the charity.
Hutchins’s passing sparked demands for changes to firearms laws on movie sets. Producer Alexi Hawley of the American police drama The Rookie announced that when Hutchins passed away, all live weapons would be swapped out for Airsoft weapons and CG lighting. The Boys’ creator Eric Kripke made a similar commitment to forbid firearms and blanks on his programme.
AFI Conservatory Directing classmate and filmmaker Bandar Albuliwi (class of 2010) advocated for a complete ban on real firearms on film and television production sets. He started a “Halyna’s Law” petition on Change.org, and dozens of well-known stars, including Dwayne Johnson, Julianne Moore, Olivia Wilde, and Ava DuVernay signed it.
Working with a number of state lawmakers, which also includes California State Senator Dave Cortese, Albuliwi was able to persuade the state of California to put up legislation that would make using real ammunition on movie and television sets a crime. In an open letter, more than 200 directors of photography advocated for the prohibition of working weapons on set.
Hutchins received an honorary membership from the American Society of Cinematographers in November 2021 as a posthumous tribute to her work as a cinematographer.