Acclaimed Producer Christine Vachon to Discuss Tenth Anniversary
of Groundbreaking Film 'Boys Don't Cry'

WELLESLEY, Mass.— In 1999, the independent drama Boys Don’t Cry burst on the scene, telling the true-life tale of transgendered teenager Brandon Teena, killed by acquaintances who found out he was biologically female. Critically acclaimed, the film earned Hilary Swank an Academy Award for best actress and shed a new light on transgender issues.

"As politically urgent today as it was upon its release 10 years ago, Boys Don't Cry is a quintessential example of Christine Vachon's (above) commitment to pushing boundaries," said organizer Maria San Filippo.

The film’s producer, Christine Vachon, will be on hand for a screening of the film, followed by a conversation and reception, during “Boys Don’t Cry 10 Years Later: The Past and Future of New Queer Cinema” Thursday, Feb. 18, at 7 pm in Collins Cinema. Courtesy of a print loan from the 20th Century Fox Library, the film will be screened in 35mm projection. The event is free and open to the public.

“No one person did more than Christine Vachon to launch the New Queer Cinema, the 1990s independent film movement that produced a wellspring of artistically innovative and politically irreverent films by, for and about queer people,” said organizer Maria San Filippo, of Wellesley’s Cinema and Media Studies Program . “As politically urgent today as it was upon its release 10 years ago, Boys Don’t Cry is a quintessential example of Vachon’s commitment to pushing boundaries.”

Vachon is the founder and head of Killer Films, the highly regarded independent film production company responsible for such films as Far From Heaven, I'm Not There, Kids, Go Fish, Happiness, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, I Shot Andy Warhol and Poison. She is also the author of two books, Shooting to Kill: How An Independent Producer Blasts Through the Barriers to Make Movies That Matter (Harper, 1998) and A Killer Life: How an Independent Film Producer Survives Deals and Disasters in Hollywood and Beyond (Limelight, 2007). Among her current projects in development are a filmed version of The Bell Jar and a project on Fidel Castro.

“Vachon has produced several of the most daring and acclaimed American independent films of the past two decades,” San Filippo said. “Hers in an unconventional and uncompromising vision, and she fosters the same in those filmmakers whose work she supports. As the founder and head of a successful independent production company, Vachon is an inspiration not just to students planning a film career but to anyone with artistic or entrepreneurial aspirations.”

Vachon will also host a master class, “Secrets of a Successful Independent Film Producer,” Friday, Feb. 19, at 3 pm in Collins Cinema. The class is open to students from Wellesley and other institutions. For more information, visit www.wellesleyfilmfestival.org .

Since 1875, Wellesley College has been a leader in providing an excellent liberal arts education for women who will make a difference in the world. Its 500-acre campus near Boston is home to 2,300 undergraduate students from all 50 states and 75 countries.

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