Todd Haynes and Christine Vachon to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award for Collaboration at 46th Mill Valley Film Festival

Mill Valley Film Festival (MVFF), presented by the California Film Institute, is honored to announce a Tribute to longtime collaborators Director Todd Haynes (Carol, MVFF 2015) and Producer Christine Vachon at the 46th Mill Valley Film Festival. Haynes and Vachon will be on hand for this special onstage conversation, presentation of the MVFF Award; Lifetime Achievement for Collaboration. This will be MVFF’s first time award honoring lifetime collaborators and the West Coast Premiere of May December.

In May December, twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, a married couple (Julianne Moore and Charles Melton) buckles under the pressure when an actress (Natalie Portman) arrives to do research for a film about their past.

May December will be released in select theaters on November 17 and streams on Netflix in the U.S. and Canada on December 1.

Acclaimed director Todd Haynes and renowned producer Christine Vachon have been working together since Poison, her first feature as producer and his first as director. The film won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Vachon and Haynes’ partnership has continued through theatrical and television features, documentaries, and music videos, including their latest, May December, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

In 1987, Director Todd Haynes created the short film Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story. His first feature film Poison won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. After Safe, which revealed Julianne Moore, he conjured David Bowie in Velvet Goldmine, then paid homage to Douglas Sirk in Far From Heaven. Haynes had six actors play Bob Dylan in I’m Not There. He directed the TV miniseries Mildred Pierce, then returned to feature films with Carol, Wonderstruck and Dark Waters. The documentary The Velvet Underground followed. His latest feature, May December will be released by Netflix in December. 

Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler co-founded the independent production company and industry stronghold, Killer Films, in 1995. Over their nearly 30 years, they have produced more than 100 films, including some of the most celebrated and important American independent features: Kids, Far From Heaven, Boys Don’t Cry, I Shot Andy Warhol, Carol, Happiness, Hedwig And The Angry Inch, One Hour Photo, Still Alice, and First Reformed. In television, they executive-produced the Emmy and Golden Globe-awarded miniseries Mildred Pierce for HBO as well as the Emmy Award-winning limited series Halston for Netflix. Recent releases include Janicza Bravo’s Zola (A24), six-part documentary series, Pride (FX), Todd Haynes’ The Velvet Underground (Apple TV+), and Celine Song’s Past Lives (A24). Upcoming releases include Haynes’ May December, Rebecca Miller’s She Came to Me, and Aaron Schimberg’s A Different Man (A24).

The MVFF Tribute program honors and celebrates lifetime achievements in the career of a significant film artist. Previous honorees have included Brendan Fraser, Kenneth Branagh, Dame Judi Dench, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Sophia Loren, Kate Winslet, Michael Apted, Alfre Woodard, Pawel Pawliskowski, Glenn Close, Kristin Scott Thomas, Sean Penn, Holly Hunter, Julie Dash, Catherine Hardwicke, Sir Ian McKellen, Laura Dern, Ben Stiller, Mira Nair, and Nicole Kidman.

Tickets for the general public will be available starting Tuesday, September 12, 2023. CFI members have the exclusive opportunity to purchase single tickets ahead of the public release, beginning Friday, September 8, 2023.