Early life

Vachon was born in Manhattan, New York City. She is the daughter of Françoise Fourestier and noted 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 at Sundance 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 Todd, 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 Gainsbourg, 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's releases for 2008 include Savage Grace, directed by Tom Kalin and starring Julianne Moore; An American Crime, starring Catherine Keener and Ellen 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.

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. She is related to the French costume designer, Sarah Monfort.

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: Happiness (Todd Solondz)
• 1998: Velvet Goldmine (Todd Haynes)
• 1999: Boys Don't Cry (Kimberly Peirce)
• 1999: I'm Losing You (Bruce Wagner)
• 2000: Crime and Punishment in Suburbia (Rob Schmidt)
• 2001: Hedwig and the Angry Inch (John Cameron Mitchell)
• 2001: Series 7: The Contenders (Daniel Minaham)
• 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)
• 2006: The Notorious Bettie Page (Mary Harron)
• 2006: 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)
• 2008: Savage Grace (Tom Kalin)
• 2008: Then She Found Me (Helen Hunt)
• 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)
• 2013: The Last of Robin Hood (Wash Westmoreland and Richard Glatzer)
• 2013: Innocence (Hilary Brougher)
• 2014: Still Alice (Wash Westmoreland and Richard Glatzer)
• 2015: Carol (Todd Haynes)
• 2016: Goat (Andrew Neel)
• 2016: Wiener-Dog (Todd Solondz)
• 2016: Frank & Lola (Matthew Ross) (as executive producer)
• 2016: Beat-up Little Seagull (Andrew Dosunmu)
• 2017: Wonderstruck (Todd Haynes)

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.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]