The news of the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins flooded social media on Oct. 21, 2021. During the filming of the movie Rust, actor Alec Baldwin accidentally fired a prop gun that hit the director, ending her life. The actor also wounded the film's director, Joel Souza.

The gun was supposed to be part of the film props, so it was supposed to fire fake projectiles. Santa Fe police arrived on the set and have begun the investigation to find out what happened.

Little was publicly known about the Ukranian Hutchins, who was only 42 years old and a cinematographer based in Los Angeles. The young director grew up on a Soviet military base and graduated with a degree in journalism from the National University of Kiev, but her career veered towards cinematography.  

She worked as an investigative journalist in Europe for a short period, and later decided to move her life to Los Angeles to make her way in the film industry as a cinematographer. She worked on several short films, while continuing her education.

In 2015, she graduated from the American Film Institute, directed the short film Coco Noir, but it was the film Darling that put her name on the scene.

Considered one of the industry's up-and-comers, she was selected as one of the breakout stars of photography by American Cinematographer magazine. Directors such as James Cullen Bressack and Adam Egypt Mortimer have paid tribute to Hutchins by mourning her loss.

"I am so saddened by the loss of Halyna. And so enraged that this could happen on a set. She was a brilliant talent who was absolutely committed to art and film," said Egypt Mortimer.