# Christine Vachon

Christine Vachon (/væˈʃɒn/; born November 21, 1962) is an American film producer active in the American independent film sector.
Vachon produced Todd Haynes' first feature, Poison (1991), which was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Since then, she has gone on to produce many acclaimed independent films, including Far from Heaven (nominated for four Academy Awards), Boys Don't Cry (Academy Award winner), 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 paramount New York City Film 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

She graduated from Brown University in 1983, where she met fellow alums director Todd Haynes and Barry Ellsworth. Together, they created Apparatus Productions in 1987, a non-profit company deeply inspired by the anti-Hollywood New York film scene and oversaw the production of seven films in five years. Most notoriously, Apparatus produced Haynes' 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 currently 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.
Her first feature Poison (written and directed by Academy Award nominee Todd Haynes) won the Grand Jury Prize Dramatic at the Sundance Film Festival in 1991. Since that initial success, Christine has worked on a number of noteworthy films, including I Shot Andy Warhol, Happiness, Kids, One Hour Photo, and Boys Don't Cry. Through her enduring relationship with Haynes, she has worked on every feature film of his to date, including Safe, Velvet Goldmine, Far From Heaven, and I'm Not There, which starred Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Charlotte Gainsbour, Julianne Moore, and Michelle Williams. Cate Blanchett received both Academy Award and SAG Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress, and the film was also nominated for 4 Independent Spirit Awards, notching a Best Supporting Actress win for Cate Blanchett.
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 releases for 2008 include Savage Grace, directed by Tom Kalin and starring Julianne Moore; An American Crime, starring Catherine Keener and Elliot Page, directed by Tommy O'Haver: Then She Found Me, the directorial debut of Helen Hunt, starring herself, Bette Midler, Colin Firth and Matthew Broderick.
Vachon continued her long-standing collaboration with Todd Haynes for 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 Guthrie. In the fall of 2009, Vachon went into remission after a battle with breast cancer.

## Awards and juries
### Awards

* 1994: Frameline – San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival, Award Outstanding Achievement in Lesbian and Gay Media
* 1996: New York Women in Film and Television, Muse Award for Outstanding Vision and Achievement
* 1999: IFP, Gotham Award for producing
* 2000: Provincetown International Film Festival, Provincetown Filmmaker on the Edge Award to Vachon and Killer Films
* 2003: New York Film Critics Circle, Far from Heaven
* 2003: National Board of Review, Producers Award
* 2007: Woodstock Film Festival, Honorary Maverick Award
* Vachon and Killer Films were given special tributes from the SXSW and Deauville Film Festivals.

### Juries

* 1993: Sundance Film Festival, dramatic jury member
* 2005: Venice Film Festival, jury member
* 2005: Sundance Film Festival, dramatic jury member
* 2010: Sarajevo Film Festival, jury member
* 2012: 60th San Sebastián International Film Festival, member and jury president

## Filmography as producer

Director's name in brackets after film title.
* 1991: Poison (Todd Haynes)
* 1992: Swoon (Tom Kalin)
* 1994: Postcards from America (Steve McLean)
* 1994: Go Fish (Rose Troche) (as executive producer)
* 1995: Stonewall (Nigel Finch)
* 1995: Safe (Todd Haynes)
* 1995: Kids (Larry Clark)
* 1996: I Shot Andy Warhol (Mary Harron)
* 1997: Office Killer (Cindy Sherman)
* 1997: Kiss Me, Guido (Tony Vitale)
* 1998: Velvet Goldmine (Todd Haynes)
* 1998: I'm Losing You (Bruce Wagner)
* 1998: Happiness (Todd Solondz)
* 1999: Boys Don't Cry (Kimberly Peirce)
* 2000: Crime and Punishment in Suburbia (Rob Schmidt)
* 2001: Hedwig and the Angry Inch (John Cameron Mitchell)
* 2001: Series 7: The Contenders (Daniel Minahan)
* 2001: Women in Film (Bruce Wagner)
* 2001: Chelsea Walls (Ethan Hawke)
* 2001: Storytelling (Todd Solondz)
* 2002: One Hour Photo (Mark Romanek)
* 2001: The Grey Zone (Tim Blake Nelson)
* 2001: The Safety of Objects (Rose Troche)
* 2002: Far from Heaven (Todd Haynes)
* 2003: Party Monster (Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato)
* 2003: Camp (Todd Graff)
* 2003: The Company (Robert Altman)
* 2004: A Home at the End of the World (Michael Mayer)
* 2004: A Dirty Shame (John Waters)
* 2005: The Notorious Bettie Page (Mary Harron)
* 2005: Mrs. Harris (Phyllis Nagy)
* 2006: Infamous (Douglas McGrath)
* 2007: This American Life (Ira Glass)
* 2007: An American Crime (Tommy O'Haver)
* 2007: I'm Not There (Todd Haynes)
* 2007: Then She Found Me (Helen Hunt)
* 2008: Savage Grace (Tom Kalin)
* 2008: Gigantic (Matt Aselton)
* 2009: Motherhood (Katherine Dieckmann)
* 2009: Cracks (Jordan Scott)
* 2009: Cairo Time (Ruba Nadda)
* 2010: Lulu at the Hotel (short) (Maya Kazan)
* 2010: Loop Planes (short) (Robin Wilby)
* 2010: Charley (short) (Dee Austin Robertson)
* 2010: Dirty Girl (Abe Sylvia)
* 2010: What's Wrong with Virginia (Dustin Lance Black)
* 2010: Lullaby for Pi (Benoit Philippon)
* 2013: Deep Powder (Mo Ogordnik)
* 2013: The Last of Robin Hood (Wash Westmoreland and Richard Glatzer)
* 2013: Innocence (Hilary Brougher)
* 2014: Still Alice (Wash Westmoreland and Richard Glatzer)
* 2015: Nasty Baby (Sebastián Silva)
* 2015: Carol (Todd Haynes)
* 2016: Goat (Andrew Neel)
* 2016: Wiener-Dog (Todd Solondz)
* 2016: White Girl (Elizabeth Wood)
* 2016: A Kind of Murder (Andy Goddard)
* 2016: Frank & Lola (Matthew Ross) (as executive producer)
* 2017: Dina (Dan Sickels & Antonio Santini)
* 2017: Lemon (Janicza Bravo)
* 2017: Where Is Kyra? (Andrew Dosunmu)
* 2017: Beatriz at Dinner (Miguel Arteta)
* 2017: Wonderstruck (Todd Haynes)
* 2017: First Reformed (Paul Schrader)
* 2017: Mercy (Tali Shalom-Ezer)
* 2018: Colette (Wash Westmoreland)
* 2018: Vox Lux (Brady Corbet)
* 2019: Dark Waters (Todd Haynes)
* 2020: Zola (Janicza Bravo)
* 2020: Shirley (Josephine Decker)
* 2020: The World to Come (Mona Fastvold)
* 2020: Brothers by Blood (Jeremie Guez)
* 2021: Pride (documentary series)
* 2021: The Velvet Underground (Todd Haynes)
* 2022: Anything's Possible (Billy Porter)
* 2023: Past Lives (Celine Song)
* 2023: She Came to Me (Rebecca Miller)
* 2023: Bleeding Love (Emma Westenberg)
* 2023: A Good Person (Zach Braff)
* 2023: May December (Todd Haynes)
* 2024: A Different Man (Aaron Schimberg)
* 2024: On Swift Horses (Daniel Minahan)
* 2025: Materialists (Celine Song)

## 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.