The Musical Écran film festival is a unique event in France, dedicated primarily to music documentaries. It takes place annually in Bordeaux. For an entire week, the spotlight is on music documentaries, with over 25 films from around the world screened, accompanied by discussions between audiences and directors.

2025 marks the 11th anniversary of the Musical Écran festival, which will take place in November 2025.

The festival is organized by the legal entity "Association Bordeaux Rock".

Musical Écran is part of the Music Film Festival Network (M.F.F.N), founded in early 2019. The network comprises over 10 European music film festivals based in France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, the UK, and beyond. M.F.F.N. aims to create opportunities for creative teams behind music film festivals to exchange experiences and best practices, promote music films (documentaries, fiction, etc.), expand existing audiences, and develop new ones.

Awards & Prizes

AUDIENCE AWARD
The audience votes for their favorite film in the competitive section and awards the Best Documentary prize, along with a €500 cash prize granted to the film’s director.

STUDENT AWARD
Musical Écran organizes a student jury to select and award the Best Documentary.

Rules & Terms

TERMS OF PARTICIPATION
The submitted films must have an explicit connection to music. A version with French subtitles is preferred. Only documentaries will be accepted in the competitive section.

To learn more about the festival’s artistic direction, you can check out the programs from previous editions via the links below:
🔗 https://www.bordeauxrock.com/editions-precedentes-musical-ecran

The festival does not accept films under 52 minutes.
Only films produced after January 1st, 2024, are eligible for the competitive section in 2025 and should preferably not have been broadcast on television or online before the festival.

REGISTRATION PROCESS
Films must be submitted by their directors, producers, or legal representatives.

Documentaries must be provided in their original language with either French or English subtitles.

SELECTION
The selection committee is composed of members of the Musical Écran team and the Association Bordeaux Rock board.

Directors whose films have been selected will be notified via email.

Once a film has been selected for screening and an oral or written confirmation has been given by its representative, it cannot be withdrawn.

The complete festival program will be announced and uploaded to www.bordeauxrock.com and the festival’s social media channels at least one month before the event.

PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL
Upon selection confirmation, the following materials must be sent to manu@bordeauxrock.com

A selection of images from the documentary (minimum resolution: 300 dpi, with copyrights stated in the file names).
A photo of the director (minimum resolution: 300 dpi, with copyrights stated in the file name) and a short biography.
A trailer or teaser file of the film.
A synopsis of the film.
Any additional material deemed relevant for the promotion of the screening.
By participating, filmmakers allow Musical Écran to use a short extract of their film (up to 2 minutes) for promotional purposes. This extract may be included in:

The festival’s trailer, broadcast online and in festival venues up to two weeks before the event.
Promotional videos published on the festival’s social media platforms.
A teaser video compilation (password-protected Vimeo link) featuring short excerpts from all films in the 11th Musical Écran festival.
SUBTITLES
Directors or representatives of selected films must provide a timecoded transcription of dialogues.

If a film does not already have French subtitles, the festival may produce them for selected films. These subtitles will remain the property of the festival. Any additional use beyond Musical Écran will require an agreement between both parties.

SCREENING
The festival’s artistic committee determines the date, time, and venue for each selected film screening.

Screening copies must meet the following specifications:

1. IMAGE
Codec: ProRes 422 HQ
Resolution: HD or 2K
Scan Method: Progressive
Frame Rates: 23.98 FPS, 24 FPS, 25 FPS, 29.97 FPS
2. SOUND
Audio Format: 2.0 Stereo
Channel Layout: L-R
3. SUBTITLES
All subtitles must be burned-in.
4. DELIVERY
Hard drives formatted in APFS or ExFAT.
The screening copies must be received by September 27, 2025.
Shipping costs for film copies will be covered by the sender. The festival will cover return costs.

📍 Shipping Address:
Association Bordeaux Rock
38 Rue Paul Louis Lande
33000 Bordeaux, France

AWARDS AND JURY
Films in the official selection compete for the following awards:
🏆 Audience Award – €500 grant, funded by a sponsor.
🏆 Student Award

Each audience member attending a competitive screening will receive a voting card and rate the film from 1 to 5. At the end of the festival, all votes will be processed, and the film with the highest score, weighted by the number of voters, will receive the Audience Award.

AWARDED FILMS
Winning films will be announced on the festival’s website and social media platforms at the end of the event. A press release will also be sent to all press contacts.

Filmmakers, producers, and distributors of winning films must include the Musical Écran laurel on all publicity and press materials for the film.
Official selection and award laurels will be provided by the Musical Écran team.
5 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Jonathan Sequeira

    I couldn't attend in person unfortunately, but the festival communication and care was the best. Richard and the team were on top of everything, helped sort out French subtitles and formats. Great work and would love to be there next time!

    November 2024
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  • Kanari Films

    The atmosphere at this festival is particularly pleasant.
    The whole team, like the audience, is passionate about music documentaries.
    It was a great pleasure to spend these days seeing some very good and very different documentaries in excellent technical conditions.
    It was a real pleasure to meet atypical directors in such a warm atmosphere.

    a few months after his disappearance, It was so special to be able to show the public ‘Damo Suzuki, the Song of the Unexpected’ // Damo Suzuki, le chant de l’imprévu »
    Damo will always be in my heart

    Many Thanks to the whole festival team
    Jérôme

    November 2024
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  • Duco Donk

    This relatively small festival is a great place for true lovers of music and film. We were happy to be invited to attend, and the reception was really friendly. The audience showed a real interest in my film (Jimmy is punk - The story of PANIC), and asked a lot of questions. It was also interesting to see work of others. So thank you all at Musical Écran.
    And we must say: Bordeaux is a fantastic city! It was great we had some time to get to know Bordeaux, visit the wine museum and stroll through the old center with so many nice restaurants and places.

    February 2024
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  • Yohan Malka

    Thanks a lot "Musical Ecran" it was a great experience to present my film: "Pone, sans rémission" in your festival . Yohan

    November 2022
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  • Alan Brain

    The Rumba Kings team was thrilled to have our French Premiere at Musical Ecran Film Festival. The festival team is awesome - super cool, kind, organized, responsive, professional and one of the best festival teams that we've worked with so far! We weren't able to make it to the festival in person this year due to the pandemic but we would have loved to be there. We highly recommend this festival to any other music documentaries! Thanks so much to the whole Musical Ecran team for all their passion, commitment, and love towards films, from The Rumba Kings cast and crew!

    September 2021
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