The Sapphires may have received a 10-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival, but its Australian premiere was held before even tougher critics - the families of the cast and the Australian public.

For Jessica Mauboy and the rest of the cast, Thursday night's Australian premiere produced a heady mixture of nerves and excitement.

Mauboy walked the red carpet of the local premiere of The Sapphires in Melbourne with her co-stars Deborah Mailman, Shari Sebbens and Miranda Tapsell and director Wayne Blair.

The premiere, which opened the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF), was very much a family affair for all involved.

'We've all got family (here)', Mailman said, with Sebbens adding people had come from 'every corner of Australia'.

Mauboy, whose parents were watching the film for the first time, said she was a little nervous, but that her parents had no idea what they were in for.

'I mean, they know the basics of the story, but it's more powerful than they think,' she said.

Inspired by a true story, The Sapphires follows four Aboriginal girls who in 1968 travel to Vietnam with the help of a down-on-his-luck Irishman (Chris O'Dowd) to sing soul music to US troops.

Mailman, Mauboy, Sebbens and Tapsell posed on the red carpet with the four women on whom the story was based.

'They're very proud,' Mauboy said later.

'(They're) really relaxed and I guess they're kind of waiting for the reaction of the public, friends and family.

'I guess for us four girls, too, we're just really waiting to see the reaction of our family, their faces.'

However, Mauboy said she still felt a lot more pressure at Cannes compared with the Australian premiere.

'Here it's home-grown. It's where it all started and people recognise the humour (and) that family-orientated (story),' she said.

'I think people get it more here than anywhere else.'

For Blair, having The Sapphires open MIFF was special because it meant opening the film up to Australian audiences.

'It's a great feeling, so just to kick this film off and hopefully Australia will get behind it.'

MIFF runs from August 2-19. Visit miff.com.au for more details.

The Sapphires opens nationally on August 9.