African Film Fest 2025
Bayo (Gustave Sorgho) is a lonely widower. How or why he came to be one, though, he couldn’t tell you. His memory isn’t what it used to be, and what remains can’t be trusted. Lately, not even pictures are a reliable means to jog his recollections. Now in his 70s and clearly suffering from early signs of Alzheimer’s, Bayo and his adult son, Franck (Guy Francis Tami Yoba), have to figure out a way to make…
African Film Fest 2025
Demba (Ben Mahmoud Mbow) is having a hard time. His wife, Awa (Awa Djiga Kané), died one year, six months, and some days ago. Lately, it feels like he’s the only one counting. Family and friends plead with him to move on and get his life together, but the agony is just too great. Even his own son, Bajjo (Mamadou Sylla) — a college dropout still living under Demba’s rented roof — doesn’t seem to give…
Neither Wild Nor Crazy
There’s not just one Steve Martin. If one visited Disneyland or attended a Boy Scouts troop meeting in the Los Angeles suburbs in the early 1960s, they might have met Steve Martin, teen magician. Bought a ticket for just about any major touring act or Vegas residency in the late ’60s? One may remember a head-scratching opening act from Steve Martin, performance artist. For the bulk of the ’70s, it was Steve Martin, world-renowned stand-up comedian.…
These American Lives: The United States of Frederick Wiseman
Part I - Authority
[From Feb. 6 – May 29, the Webster University Film Series will feature a marathon retrospective on the works of legendary American documentarian Frederick Wiseman. The Take-Up is co-sponsoring this series, which editors Kayla McCulloch and Joshua Ray also assisted in programming. This piece is the first of several essays from Kayla looking back at some the individual films featured in the retrospective, situating them in the…
