A film festival with a difference starts today in Parkes in central western NSW.

The science film festival SCINEMA features films from around the world and covers topics ranging from rats that sniff out landmines to renal failure in remote Australia.

Another film tells of a health conscious woman who woke up from a transplant operation to find herself craving beer and chicken nuggets after receiving the heart of a beer drinking man who died with a box of nuggets tucked inside his jacket.

The festival runs in Parkes until next Monday and will also travel to Bathurst.