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Indigenous filmmaking is coming of age, led by movies like Samson Delilah, says Message Sticks Film Festival curator Darren Dale.
As the festival celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, Dale believes there is a lot of excitement about the work Aboriginal filmmakers are creating.
'I think there's a real buzz around indigenous film at the moment,' Dale said.
'We're really seeing accomplished filmmakers with great stories.'
Leading the charge is director Warwick Thornton's acclaimed Samson Delilah.
The tale of young love in a troubled indigenous community dealing with violence, substance abuse and poverty won the Camera D'Or award for best first feature film at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
It had its Australian premiere at Message Sticks in Sydney in May and will be part of the festival's free national tour, which kicks off in Canberra on Thursday night.
Dale said he thought Samson Delilah would help raise the profile of indigenous filmmaking, and of the festival.
'With any success of any film certainly people tend to gravitate, and I think there's a real interest in indigenous cinema at the moment,' he said.
Dale said there was no common theme among the films in this year's festival, except that indigenous filmmakers were tackling tougher subjects.
'Filmmakers are at a point of maturity where they feel they can tackle these more difficult issues that possibly they wouldn't have done five to 10 years ago,' he said.
'I think it's also a response to the current social climate that we're in, and the discussions that people are having in their lounge rooms and dinner tables.
'There's a real questioning of indigenous affairs and indigenous policy, and why aren't things working and what does work. Any artist grapples with those same questions and tries to put a spotlight onto them and present them back to an audience.'
Among the films in the festival is actress Deborah Mailman's directorial debut Ralph, and fellow actress Leah Purcell's first film Aunty Maggie and the Womba Wakgun.
Another highlight is Ivan Sen's latest documentary Fire Talker, about the life and times of Charlie Perkins.
'He's used essentially all archival footage ... to make a really concise and insightful portrait of one of the most important Aboriginal leaders of our time,' Dale said.
'I think people will find that really interesting.'
Message Sticks will travel to 10 locations around the country in 2009, including Darwin, Broome, Cairns, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Lismore, Perth and Hobart.
Dale said the future of the festival was looking good, with audience numbers having grown exponentially over the decade it has been running.
'At the Sydney event we had a line of 250 people on a Friday night lining up to see short films, and that's an incredible response,' he said.
