Before her passing, Halyna Hutchins was one of the go-to independent genre film cinematographers, with credits like Pollyanna McIntosh’s “Darlin’,” Adam Egypt Mortimer’s “Archenemy,” and the upcoming Hannah Macpherson horror film, “Time Cut.” Shortly following her passing, Mortimer contributed a moving tribute to Hutchins at Vanity Fair. His entire In Memoriam is breathtaking, but there are two passages in particular that I hope people remember more than the results of a court proceeding. As he wrote:
This fierce tranquility came from her total belief in film as art, and the trust she had in her own ability to make beautiful things. But in addition to this forcefield of integrity, what made her so lovely and radiant was her deep vulnerability. Her eyes always shined.
[…]
She unwaveringly, stubbornly believed that she could turn a scene into art. I say stubbornly because she really would dig in. We were not going to roll that camera until the frame was right. She could withstand the storm of pressure her own stubbornness created, and she could withstand it because she knew that on the other side was something beautiful. And now my collaborator and friend is on the other side. I hope it’s beautiful.
No court decision can bring Halyna Hutchins back, but her legacy lives on in not only her brilliant contributions to film but also the Halyna Hutchins Memorial Scholarship Fund dedicated to supporting the education of female cinematographers through the American Film Institute, and the proposed “Halyna’s Law” which would make it a felony to use real ammunition on film and television sets.