Christine Vachon (;
Vachon produced Todd Haynes's first feature, Poison (1991), which was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Since then, she has produced many acclaimed independent films, including Far from Heaven, Boys Don't Cry, One Hour Photo, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Velvet Goldmine, Safe, Go Fish, Swoon, I'm Not There, and Carol. She also produced the HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce.
Vachon also participates as a member of the Jury for the NYICFF, a New York City festival dedicated to screening films for children between the ages of 3 and 18.
Early life
Vachon was born in
Manhattan, New York City. She is the daughter of Françoise Fourestier and photographer
John Vachon.
Career
Vachon graduated in 1983 from
Brown University, where she met director
Todd Haynes and
Barry Ellsworth. In 1987, the three created Apparatus Productions, a nonprofit company deeply inspired by the anti-Hollywood New York film scene, and oversaw the production of seven films in five years. Vachon herself wrote and directed three short films, A Man in Your Room (1984), Days Are Numbered (1986) and The Way of the Wicked (1989).
Most notoriously, Apparatus produced Haynes's controversial
, a film depicting the dramatic rise and fall of the anorexic pop star. To make financial ends meet, Vachon became a proofreader by night. She also took on odd jobs in the film industry to learn the trade.
Killer Films
Vachon and fellow New York producer Pamela Koffler run
Killer Films, which was established in 1996. The company celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2005 and was honored with a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Vachon's first feature, Poison (written and directed by Haynes), won the Grand Jury Prize Dramatic at the Sundance Film Festival in 1991. Since then, she has worked on several noteworthy films, including I Shot Andy Warhol, Happiness, Kids, One Hour Photo, and Boys Don't Cry. She has worked on all of Haynes's feature films to date, including Safe, Velvet Goldmine, Far From Heaven, and I'm Not There, for which Cate Blanchett received both Academy Award and SAG Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress, and which was nominated for four Independent Spirit Awards, with Blanchett winning Best Supporting Actress.
In 2008, Vachon won an Emmy for her role as executive producer for the TV adaptation of Ira Glass's This American Life.
Killer Films's 2008 releases included Savage Grace, directed by Tom Kalin and starring Julianne Moore; An American Crime, starring Catherine Keener and Elliot Page, directed by Tommy O'Haver; and Then She Found Me, the directorial debut of Helen Hunt, starring herself, Bette Midler, Colin Firth and Matthew Broderick.
Vachon continued her collaboration with Haynes on the 2015 film Carol and the 2023 film May December.
Vachon is the artistic director of the MFA Program at Stony Brook Manhattan.
Personal life
Vachon and her partner, artist
Marlene McCarty, live in the East Village of New York with their daughter. In 2009, Vachon went into remission after a bout of breast cancer.
Awards and juries
Awards
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1994: Frameline Film Festival/San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival, Award for Outstanding Achievement in Lesbian and Gay Media
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1996: New York Women in Film and Television, Muse Award for Outstanding Vision and Achievement
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1999: IFP, Gotham Award for producing
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2000: Provincetown International Film Festival, Provincetown Filmmaker on the Edge Award to Vachon and Killer Films
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2002: New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Film, Far from Heaven
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2002: Independent Spirit Award for Best Film, Far from Heaven
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2003: National Board of Review Award, Producers Award
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2007: Woodstock Film Festival, Honorary Maverick Award
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2023: Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Feature, Past Lives
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2023: Independent Spirit Award for Best Film, Past Lives
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2024: Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Feature, A Different Man
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Vachon and Killer Films have been given special tributes from the SXSW and Deauville Film Festivals.
Juries
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1993: Sundance Film Festival, dramatic jury member
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2005: Venice Film Festival, jury member
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2005: Sundance Film Festival, dramatic jury member
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2010: Sarajevo Film Festival, jury member
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2012: 60th San Sebastián International Film Festival, member and jury president
Filmography
Director's name in brackets after film title.
As producer
As executive producer
As director
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1984: A Man in Your Room (short)
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1986: Days Are Numbered (short)
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1989: The Way of the Wicked (short)
Works and publications
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James Schamus, Barry Ellsworth, Todd Haynes, and Christine Vachon. The Apparatus Guide to No-Budget Filmmaking in New York City. New York: Apparatus Productions, 1989.
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Vachon, Christine, and David Edelstein. Shooting to Kill: How an Independent Producer Blasts Through the Barriers to Make Movies That Matter. New York: Harper Perennial, 2002. Reprint of 1998 edition.
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Vachon, Christine, and Austin Bunn. A Killer Life: How an Independent Film Producer Survives Deals and Disasters in Hollywood and Beyond. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006. 2007 Limelight Edition.
External links
