The world premiere of the western movie, Rust, took place yesterday in the Polish city of Toruń, three years after an on-set shooting incident in which the film's cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, was killed.
Ms Hutchins, a 42-year-old Ukrainian cinematographer, was fatally wounded when actor Alec Baldwin shot a revolver in her direction, not knowing that the gun was loaded with live rounds.
The actor was charged with involuntary manslaughter but his trial was dismissed last July by a judge in New Mexico - the state where the shooting took place - on the grounds that evidence had been withheld.
Mr Baldwin, who is also one of the film's co-producers, did not attend the premiere in Poland and the filmmakers could not confirm whether he would take part in promoting Rust.
The film tells the story of a 13-year-old boy who is sentenced to hang in 1880s Wyoming after being found guilty of murder, and his outlaw grandfather, played by Mr Baldwin, who comes to rescue him.
A few hundred people attended the screening of Rust at Camerimage, a film festival that celebrates the craft of cinematography, along with director Joel Souza and Bianca Cline, the cinematographer who took over Ms Hutchins’ work on the film.
The screening began with a minute's silence to remember Ms Hutchins and was also attended by friends of the deceased filmmaker.
Speaking to RTÉ News at the premiere, Mr Souza said that he had not "wanted to be anywhere near a movie set" after the death of Ms Hutchins.
However, the director decided to complete the film after Ms Hutchins’ husband and family gave their support to the film’s completion.
"I became aware that Halyna's husband was going to be involved, and this is what their family wanted," said Mr Souza.
The idea that someone else could finish directing the film was something, said Mr Souza that he "couldn't live with that", adding that Ms Hutchins' "fingerprints are all over every aspect" of the film.
Ms Hutchins was married and had a nine-year-old son at the time of her death.
Production on Rust recommenced in April 2023 with the original crew members returning to finish the film.
"It wasn't easy for the people that came back, it was a hard thing to do," said Mr Souza.
"But there comes a point where you roll that first shot, and you're making movies, and you've got a job to do, and then you have a job to finish. And so at a certain point, it just felt normal again".
Cinematographer Bianca Cline studied Ms Hutchins' original approach to the film and worked with the film's camera crew to preserve the same look.
"I watched as many of her films as possible, anything she had done to understand how she sees the world and how she wanted this film to be," Ms Cline told RTÉ News.
"With this film, we were going to preserve every frame of Halyna's footage that we can," she said.
The organisers of Camerimages said that they had held the screening because Ms Hutchins had wanted to screen her work at the festival in Toruń.
Earlier this week, the mother of Ms Hutchins, Olga Solovey issued a statement through her family's lawyer saying that she would not attend the premiere in Poland because, she said, her daughter had not received justice.
A statement issued to RTÉ News by Melina Spadone, a representative for Rust Movie Productions, read:
"The Camerimage festival celebrates the artistry of cinematographers; it is not a festival for buyers. None of the producers of Rust stand to benefit financially from the film.
"The suggestion that those involved in completing Halyna Hutchins’ film were motivated by profit is disrespectful to those who worked tirelessly to honor her legacy."
Rust does not have a distributor for North America at present and a release date for North America and Europe has not yet been set.
