SHOOTING a film in Arnhem Land can at times be more about survival than camera angles.

Director Darlene Johnson, whose River Of No Return opens the indigenous Message Sticks Festival, recalls running out of fuel in an aluminium dinghy while making the movie in the Northern Territory.

"We're way in the middle of nowhere where there's no telephone range, no nothing, and ... what was most interesting was that this fire [from burning off] was fast approaching," she says.

"There were all these crocodiles in the water because it was breeding season. And on the other side of the bank there's all these water buffalo with horns. And then there's the snakes. So you kind of weigh up the options."

She and the crew started rowing, found mobile reception and phoned for help, later to be rescued with the assistance of a speedboat.

Such filmmaking challenges are ripe for discussion at Message Sticks, Australia's only film festival with purely indigenous works, which coincides with National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee week.

Most of the moviemakers and subjects will take part in forums so that viewers can hear their stories, ask questions or just mingle with Aboriginal people.

"That's a wonderful exchange," says co-curator Rachel Perkins, of Blackfella Films.

The festival will tour nationally and Perkins says it is "a great opportunity to really step inside the indigenous world".

Documentaries and shorts will be screened this weekend and the astonishing blind singer Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu features in its live music program next weekend (see next Friday's Metro).

"All walks of indigenous life are there and all their different experiences are brought together ... It's sort of a blackout," Perkins says.

Her highlights include the "mad, funny" Aboriginal Fishermen, about a YouTube hit in which indigenous dancers interpret Zorba The Greek; Warlpiri Media, marking 25 years of Aboriginal TV; and tonight's opening, a "huge soiree where 1000 people take over the Opera House".

Films such as River Of No Return, the true story of an Arnhem Land mother who dreams of being a Hollywood star, also provide a rare glimpse into remote indigenous life. "It's just not accessible to mainstream people," Johnson says.

Part of Riveri beauty lies in how Frances Djulibing (Ten Canoes) "always believed she could be an actor just like Marilyn Monroe and ... never ever saw her skin colour as being a barrier", she says. "The minute you come to the city, that's when it becomes an issue."

Still, indigenous films are increasingly well received, Perkins says. "Now we're finding there's a big thirst for this material."

Message Sticks, tonight to Sunday (films free, opening $50 - sold out) and July 11-13 (concerts only, $25-$35), Opera House, 9250 7777, http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com.