Published: June 20, 2023| 11:00 AM

HOMAGE TO PRODUCER CHRISTINE VACHON

With You Sing Loud, I Sing Louder, the Karlovy Vary film festival honors one of the most important producers of independent film, Christine Vachon. On this occasion, the festival will also show one of her most recent production projects, the romantic drama Past Lives by director Celine Song, which had its world premiere at Sundance and was shown at this year’s Berlinale.​

As producer or executive producer, Christine Vachon has helped bring to life dozens of award-winning films. She has spent many years working with outstanding talents in the field of independent cinema (Todd Haynes, Todd Solondz, Paul Schrader) and has also produced the directorial efforts of actors such as Helen Hunt and Ethan Hawke. In 1996, she and Pamela Koffler founded Killer Films, which today is one of the most important companies in the field of independent cinema. Their very first project, the Todd Haynes drama Poison (1991), won the Grand Jury Prize at the 1991 Sundance Film Festival. The drama Boys Don’t Cry (1999, dir. Kimberly Pierce) received an Oscar for Best Actress, and Haynes’s Far from Heaven (2002) earned four Oscar nominations. Vachon has also produced numerous other films, including Velvet Goldmine (1998, dir. Todd Haynes), Happiness (1999, dir. Todd Solondz), the music drama I’m Not There (2007, dir. Todd Haynes), which earned Cate Blanchett an Oscar nomination and Todd Haynes' May December (2023) which screened in competition at Cannes this year.

Christine Vachon was a part of the production team that won a 2008 Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Nonfiction Series for the television version of the radio program This American Life. She was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy for the TV movie Mrs. Harris (2005, dir. Phyllis Nagy) and the miniseries Mildred Pierce (2011, dir. Todd Haynes) starring Kate Winslet, which won a total of five Emmys. Vachon has received dozens of other film and television awards and has sat on the juries of some of the world’s most important film festivals, including Sundance, Venice, and San Sebastián.

​ACTOR VINCENT PEREZ TO PRESENT HIS FILM THE EDGE OF THE BLADE

Actor Vincent Perez will personally introduce the film The Edge of the Blade, which is being shown in the Horizons section.

Audiences will know Vincent Perez from the highly successful film adaptation Cyrano de Bergerac (dir. Jean-Paul Rappeneau), which won ten French César Awards and a Golden Globe for best foreign film. He also appeared in Queen Margot (1994, La Reine Margot), which the Karlovy Vary film festival showed in 2009 as part of its Tribute to Patrice Chéreau, and in the relationship melodrama Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train (1998, Ceux qui m’aiment prendront le train). The festival also showed Bruce Beresford’s biopic Bride of the Wind (2001), and fans of action fantasy films will recognize Perez from the cult film The Crow: City of Angels (1996, dir. Tim Pope).

SCREENWRITER AND DIRECTOR CELINE SONG PRESENTS PAST LIVES

Celine Song is a Korean-Canadian director, playwright, and screenwriter living in the United States. Her feature film directorial debut Past Lives has captivated festival organizers and audiences ever since its premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, and it was also included in the official program of the Berlinale.