Chris & Heather’s Big Screen Blowout
Los Angeles Filmforum and Mezzanine present
Chris & Heather’s Big Screen Blowout
Wednesday July 16, 2025, 8:00 pm
At 2220 Arts + Archives, 2220 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90057
NOTE THE CHANGE IN DAY & TIME
Tickets: $15 general, free for Filmforum members
Link: https://link.dice.fm/dc96591bc5cb
In person: Heather McAdams and Chris Ligon
Artist/filmmaker Heather McAdams and songwriter husband Chris Ligon have assembled one of the most impressive, private collections of short-form 16mm films we know of, focusing on music films, commercials, movie previews and other true oddities which usually fall through the cracks at large, institutional film archives. For this special event, Chris and Heather present some of the very best of their 16mm film collection for a unique and inspiring evening of nonstop laughs and entertainment in their inimitable style. Drawing from their extensive collection, amassed over more than 40 years and edited in their signature "bumper to bumper" style, this selection of short subjects is sure to please everyone, especially those with a short attention span. The program includes amazing vintage trashy movie trailers for films like SUPERCHICK (1973), SWEDISH SWINGERS (1972) and TRIP WITH THE TEACHER (1975); forgotten TV commercials for goofy games like Town Dump and toys like Fuzzy Pumper; sensational songs by Ricky Nelson, Buffalo Springfield, The Staple Singers and more; plus 5 one-minute animated cartoons made by Chris and Heather for MTV in the mid 1990's.
Chris and Heather, all the way from Chicago, will appear live to introduce the films and attempt to explain themselves!
Heather McAdams is a Chicago based experimental filmmaker, painter, illustrator and cartoonist originally born in Virginia. She earned her BFA from VCU and an MFA from SAIC and went on to teach at SAIC, the University of R.I + the University of KY. She has won numerous state + regional grants for her films and judged Film Festivals including Ann Arbor. In addition, her comics + illustrations ran in the Chicago Reader for 20 years. She continues to stay active curating live film and music extravaganzas with her multi-talented musician husband Chris Ligon, packing houses with their impressive + hilarious collection of 16mm movie trailers, ads + songs on 16mm film. This past year, as a result of the Chicago Film Society preserving many of her 16mm films, she has had screenings at MOMA, The National Gallery of Art, The Speed Museum and the Wisconsin Film Festival.
Born into a musical family in 1958, Chris Ligon is a musician/songwriter whose work can be heard in the hit TV show "Weeds", on numerous releases under his own name and is the sole writer of two highly acclaimed albums by Chicago super-group The Flat Five. He has collaborated on several film projects with his wife Heather McAdams and the pair are co-hosts of the iconic "Country Calendar Show" a Chicago staple for nearly 30 years. Ligon is a voice impressionist who does a "really old" Jimmy Stewart (see video: fhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHCGvITeIk8/) Ligon wants to add here; "I've lost a lot of weight since that video was shot. Especially in my face."
Special thanks to the Academy Museum, K.J. Relth-Miller, Chicago Film Society, Kyle Westphal, Julian Antos
There will be another program with Heather McAdams showing her own films on Thursday July 17 at the Academy Museum:
Kind of a Drag: Experimental Films, Documentaries, and Scratch Animation by Heather McAdams, 1980-1995
Thurs July 17, 7:30 pm
at the Academy Museum
In person: Heather McAdams
Full details at https://www.academymuseum.org/en/programs/detail/anatomy-of-a-scratch-films-by-heather-mc-adams-1980-1995-01961270-e9bc-f461-0efe-51f25a0c4c46