MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee’s annual film festival is returning earlier next year.

Milwaukee Film announced that its 2021 Milwaukee Film Festival will take place May 6-20 of 2021 and will largely take place in a virtual format, as the 2020 festival did. 

“As the Milwaukee Film Festival has evolved into the community-centric event that Milwaukee knows and loves, we’ve discussed extensively the benefits of moving to the spring,” said Jonathan Jackson, CEO of Milwaukee Film. “From both a community and an industry perspective, a spring Festival would better suit our needs and serve our audience. It’s odd, but the disruption created by the pandemic has actually played a significant role in opening up this opportunity. 

Milwaukee Film noted that the 2020 festival was a success; there was an attendance of 66,286 people and more than 1.7 million minutes of film viewed. It laid the foundation for the nonprofit to offer another robust virtual Festival in 2021, only six months after wrapping up this year’s event. 

The film lineup will be announced in April, and tickets to individual films will go on sale when the festival begins on May 6.

Passes for MFF2021’s virtual content are now on sale. Passes will not include access to any in-person screenings that may take place. Details of any in-person film events, as well as virtual events and guests, will be shared in April. 

For more information, visit mkefilm.org.