Documentary on Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in the works

Rachel Mason, who was Emmy nominated for her work on the documentary Circus of Books in 2020, will helm the project. Julee Metz will serve as a producer for Story Syndicate.

The film will have exclusive access to Hutchins’ professional and personal archives and “will paint a powerful portrait of Hutchins’ journey from her youth living on a remote Soviet naval base and then in Kyiv, Ukraine, to becoming one of the independent film’s most in-demand cinematographers.

“Halyna was on the cusp of making a lasting mark on cinema. As a filmmaker, I wanted to make movies with her. Never could I have imagined that I would be making a film about her,” Mason said in a statement.

“The world lost a great artist, but I lost a friend. The fact that her brilliance as an artist was instantly overshadowed by the circumstances around her death, pains me deeply. This film allows us the opportunity to share her humanity and talent with the world, and to experience the journey of her collaborators working to complete her final creative work. Halyna was destined for greatness, and she still is,” Mason added.