THE GOTHAMIST INTERVIEW: SEPT. DAY 3 — CHRISTINE VACHON

Simply put, Christine Vachon is one of the most important producers to have come upon the New York independent film scene, and since at least the early ’90s, she and her company Killer Films have consistently put out daring and provocative films. Everybody might now always like all the films to come out of the Killer stable, but possibly more than any other production company, and certainly more than any other company that regularly produces as many films has Killer does every year, Vachon and her partners Pam Koeffler and Katie Roumel have never been afraid to help filmmakers tackle any subject or story no matter how seemingly unfilmable or taboo it may be.

Tonight MoMA begins a two-plus week retrospective honoring the past 10 years (really more like 15) of Vachon and Killer Films: “Swoon: Ten Years of Killer Films”. It’s really a great series, showcasing the best of what has come from the company, and it provided a great opportunity for me to talk to Christine. That conversation is now, more or less, today’s Gothamist Interview. It really is a wonder that with all the other indie film companies that have come and gone over my nine years in New York, Killer is really the only one that survives, intact, as it was, at least of its size, importance and prominence. Good Machine? Split into Focus Features and This Is That. The Shooting Gallery? Shot down. Even a much bigger organization — Miramax — you could say is, for all intents and purposes — dead. Regardless of whether the new Miramax attains any large degree of importance and stature, the company that was often at the hub of the New York film industry will basically cease to exist in just over a week.

But Killer is still going strong, and so is Christine. I’ll be at MoMA tonight for the screening of The Notorious Bettie Page, and I can’t wait.