Award-Winning Independent Film Producer Christine Vachon at UA March 11

Independent film producer, Christine Vachon will visit the University of Arizona campus on March 11 as part of the department of media arts "Visiting Filmmakers Program."

Vachon is one of the most influential producers in the independent film industry. She has been behind many of the groundbreaking award-winning indie films of the 1990s including Todd Haynes' "Poison and Velvet Goldmine," and Kimberly Peirce's Academy Award winner, "Boys Don't Cry."

More recent films she has produced include "Go Fish," "I Shot Andy Warhol," "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," "One Hour Photo," the Academy Award four-time nominated "Far From Heaven," and "Party Monster."

In 1994, Vachon was awarded the Frameline Award for Outstanding Achievement in Lesbian and Gay Media, and in 1996 she was honored with the prestigious Muse Award for Outstanding Vision and Achievement by New York Women in Film and Television. She received the IFP's 1999 Gotham Award for producing.

Most recently Vachon was honored by the New York Film Critics for her work on "Far From Heaven" and received the producer of the year award from the National Board of Review.

Vachon's book, "Shooting to Kill: How an Independent Producer Blasts Through Barriers to Make Movies That Matter" was published in 1998 and was a Los Angeles Times bestseller. She is currently at work on a second book, which will be published by Simon and Schuster in 2005.

This event is presented by The Jack and Vivian Hanson Arizona Film Institute and The University of Arizona Media Arts Department Visiting Filmmakers Program funded by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and The University of Arizona College of Fine Arts in collaboration with the 2005 Wingspan Film Festival.