HELP

You already know the answer to this one: as soon as possible! Many of our screenings sell out, leaving sad, ticket-less people. Don’t be one of those. Buy your tickets early!

If you have a ticket, we highly recommend you arrive a minimum of 30 minutes prior to showtime to secure your seat. All ticket and pass holders must arrive no later than 15 minutes prior to the scheduled showtime to guarantee a seat. Beginning 15 minutes before the show, any empty seats will be sold to patrons in the Standby line.

If a film is listed as “Standby Only” online, there’s still hope! You can join the Standby line at the venue to buy any unclaimed seats. Standby tickets are sold on a first-come, first-served basis, so get in line early. There’s also a chance the film will be screening again during the Festival! Check your program guide for dates, times, and locations.

Standby tickets are last-minute tickets to screenings where all advance tickets have been sold. If available, Standby tickets are sold within 15 minutes of showtime. All Standby tickets are sold at full price and are not subject to discounts. 6-pack vouchers are not redeemable for Standby tickets.

Every day at noon during the Festival, we update mkefilm.org/mff25standby to let you know which screenings have gone to Standby Only status (and which screenings are selling quickly.)

Absolutely! Same-day tickets are available at all three box office locations, online, and over the phone, up until each film’s showtime or until a film goes to standby.

Milwaukee Film Members pay less for tickets, passes, concessions, and merchandise during the Festival. Throughout the year, they also get to take advantage of many other great benefits, including year-round discounts on tickets and concessions at the Oriental Theatre and the Downer Theatre. If you aren’t a Member yet, sign up at mkefilm.org/membership or at any Festival box office to enjoy these discounts immediately!

Certainly. We’re a kid-friendly Festival! However, not all films have MPAA ratings. Some movies might contain material unsuitable for children, so please use discretion when selecting films for youths. Age-appropriate films are available in the Rated K: For Kids.

There’s only one way to gain access to this sure-to-be buzzed-about screening — become a Milwaukee Film Member at mkefilm.org/membership. This super secret Members-only screening is excluded from the Festival pass, and tickets will not be available at the box office. Members will not know the film until they're seated, but we promise it’s a good one. Past screenings have included Oscar-nominated films such as Silver Linings Playbook, Faces Places, and Marcel the Shell with Shoes On.

Only current Milwaukee Film Members will receive an email to RSVP and access the film.

The program book will be available digitally April 4th! 

All films for the Festival will have hearing impaired device capability.

HEARING IMPAIRED (HI) For those with hearing impairment, we will be offering HI devices. These will work for all films at the Festival. These devices allow for the user to hear the Left, Center and Right channel more clearly. We offer multiple devices for users to access HI devices: at the Oriental Theatre, we use hearing loops to transmit HI audio tracks which can be received by users with T-Coil devices (such as certain hearing aids) or with devices we supply in house that receive the signal via a headset. At the Downer Theatre, we supply Fidelio devices and headsets which staff will program to receive the HI track transmitted from our projection equipment.

CLOSED CAPTIONING (CCAP) We will be offering closed captioning whenever a filmmaker/distributor has provided closed captions. When closed captions are provided, the dialogue and audio of the film will be represented on text displays for individual users to read during the film. The devices we offer for accessing closed captioning tracks are called Captiview.

These are small displays that can be mounted by the user either in a cup holder or on a seat rest and positioned so that the captions can be read while watching the film. Staff will need to program these devices for each film, and it should be noted that Closed Captions will only be available for the featured content (e.g. not on trailers). Attendees should inquire with box office staff if a film will be offering closed captioning.

OPEN CAPTIONS (OCAP) We will be offering open captions for two films: LIFE AFTER and MARLEE MATLIN: NOT ALONE ANYMORE. For these screenings, the captions will be on the screen for everyone to see and no devices will be necessary.

VISUAL IMPAIRED (VI) For those with visual impairments, we will be providing devices for VI tracks whenever they have been provided by the filmmaker or distributor. These audio tracks provide a narrated description of what is happening on the screen. These audio tracks are transmitted to the user via a Fidelio receiver and headset which staff will program to receive the appropriate audio track. Attendees should inquire with box office staff if a film will be offering VI.