For Stony Brook Southampton, A Graduate Film Program

   Stony Brook Southampton announced last week that Christine Vachon, an independent filmmaker, has joined its faculty to begin the process of establishing a graduate program in film on the campus.

    Ms. Vachon, whose company, Killer Films, has been behind the production of “Far from Heaven,” “Boys Don’t Cry,” “Happiness,” and “I’m Not There,” among others, will be honored on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. during the school’s fifth annual Pakula Prize event, as part of its annual writers conference and broader “Southampton Arts Summer” series. Clips from her 70 films will be shown at the event, which is open to the public.

    Killer Films will participate in the new graduate program, allowing the school to enter the field with a fully realized production facility behind it. The company, which will split its operations between its offices in New York City and the Southampton campus, will offer internships to the students.

    “The goal is to match the reality of the film business today. That means turning the traditional film school on its head,” Ms. Vachon said in a release.

    The program will seek partnerships with distributors such as YouTube, Google, AOL, and other nontraditional platforms. Within the school, it will coordinate with Stony Brook’s programs in science and technology and the Stony Brook Film Festival, held every July.

    The school has recently developed courses in scriptwriting, directing, acting, screenwriting, digital filmmaking, and film criticism, with instructors including John Patrick Shanley, Jon Robin Baitz, Neal Gabler, and Julie Andrews.

    Ms. Vachon will offer a free master class in film production, which is open to the public, on Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. Registration is through stonybrook.edu.