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Christine Vachon

American film producer (born 1962) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Christine Vachon
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Christine Vachon (/væˈʃɒn/;[1] born November 21, 1962) is an American film producer active in the American independent film sector.[2][3]

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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.[4]

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Early life

Vachon was born in Manhattan, New York City. She is the daughter of Françoise Fourestier and photographer John Vachon.[2]

Career

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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).[5] Most notoriously, Apparatus produced Haynes's controversial Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, 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.[6]

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.[citation needed]

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.[7] She produced the 2023 film Past Lives, for which she received her first Academy Award nomination.

Vachon is the artistic director of the MFA Program at Stony Brook Manhattan.

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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.[2][8]

Awards and juries

Awards

Juries

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Filmography

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Director's name in brackets after film title.

As producer

As executive producer

As director

  • 1984: A Man in Your Room (short)
  • 1986: Days Are Numbered (short)
  • 1989: The Way of the Wicked (short)
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Works and publications

  • Schamus, James, Barry Ellsworth, Todd Haynes, and Christine Vachon. The Apparatus Guide to No-Budget Filmmaking in New York City. New York: Apparatus Productions, 1989. OCLC 801262187
  • 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. ISBN 978-0-380-79854-4 OCLC 793342718
  • 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. ISBN 978-0-743-25630-8 OCLC 238812473 2007 Limelight Edition.
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References

External links

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