On today's Mel & Floyd Summer Replacement Show, Mel and Mr. Smarty Pants celebrate the 2025 Wisconsin Film Festival, which kicked off last night and runs through next Thursday, April 10.

This year, the film fest boasts more than 100 film screenings at seven different locations — the Bartell Theater, Chazen Museum of Art, UW Cinematheque, Music Hall, Union South, Barrymore Theater and Flix Brewhouse.

Today on the show we're joined by a dizzying array of guests involved with the festival. We speak with the Wisconsin Film Festival's Ben Reiser and Four Star Video Cooperative's Lewis Peterson, who provide an overall guide to the fest. Plus: candy.

And we speak with filmmakers who have films showing at the WFF: Douglas Rosenberg (The Sea), Grace Mitchell & Sofia Theodore-Pierce (Heart-Shaped), Aidan Leary (Monkey's Magic Merry Go Round), Sean Hanish (Just a Bit Outside: The Story of the 1982 Milwaukee Brewers).

The city of Madison announced yesterday that Metro Transit’s general manager is stepping down later this spring – after overseeing a transformative five years for public transportation in our city.

Image courtesy: Faye Parks / WORT News.

On today’s show, host Allen Ruff is joined by Martín Espada who has just published a new volume of poetry, Jailbreak of Sparrows. Espada is a longtime friend of WORT and former Madisonian. He reads from his collection on the air and discusses the supple power of language.

Featured image: the cover of Jailbreak of Sparrows.

Lone Piñon will be playing at the North Street Cabaret on Wednesday, April 9, starting at 7:30 PM as part of the Sugar Maple Concert Series.

Congressman Mark Pocan by WORT 89.9FM Madison

On today’s show, host Esty Dinur previews five, yes five, Wisconsin Film Festival films.

Featured image: logo of the Wisconsin Film Festival.

Atlas Improv is putting on their annual event this weekend, starting tonight and running through Saturday night.

Sly and the Family Stone were singing about it decades ago, and the 50501-demonstration planned for this Saturday at the State Capitol looks to spread the message

Amman Abbasi is a Pakistani-American writer, director, editor, producer, and composer from Little Rock. His first feature film Dayveon premiered at Sundance. His film Yasmeen’s Element is screening on Sunday, April 6 at 4:15pm at The Marquee at Union South. He joins host Esty Dinur.

Photo courtesy John Otterbacher.

Don't let the Playground Pals fool you — it's not such a beautiful day in the neighborhood as the cheery world of puppets descends into an eerie hellscape haunted by "The Freak." Joining us is Aidan Leary, the director behind Monkey's Magic Merry Go Round. It's the first completed feature for a series of modestly budgeted horror movies called Terror Town. It screens Friday at Union South. (Photo courtesy: Erik Schwerdtfeger / WORT News)