There's one big change in this year's Stronger Than Fiction Documentary Film Festival.

It's moved from Palace Electric to Dendy.

The new venue seems a natural fit. Co-director and co-curator of the 2019 festival Hannah de Feyter says Dendy screens a lot of documentaries in its regular programming.

"They're really trying to be the home of documentaries in Canberra."

There will be 13 feature documentaries in this year's festival, chosen by de Feyter and Deborah Kingsland from hundreds of films from around the world. The festival includes gala events,Q&As and panel discussions with the filmmakers and experts, and a Meet the Filmmakers brunch. Three of the films are being presented with the support of the Canadian High Commission. The 10 most popular films will have second screenings.

De Feyter says more than half of the documentaries were directed by women - "that's still quite rare" - and there's a strong focus on women as well as on the natural world in the films screening during the festival.

The film for the opening night gala (which includes drinks and dinner) combines both subjects. Honeyland (G, July 31, 7pm) is "just the most beautiful film", de Feyter says.

It's about the last wild beekeeper in Europe, Hatidze, who lives in a remote part of North Macedonia. She sings to her bees and collects their honey without gloves.

Her main human contact, apart from her bedridden mother, is when she goes to the local market to sell honey.

But when a farming family of six moves in next door, bringing more modern farming methods that are less sensitive to nature and threaten Hatidze's livelihood, tensions arise.

"There's a lot of conflict - it's an amazing metaphor for the way we interact with the Earth."

A more optimistic film about farming is The Biggest Little Farm (August 4, 2pm) about Molly and John, who decide to trade city life for 80 hectares of farmland. But there are many challenges including wildfire, rainstorms and predators.

"It was filmed over eight years as they try to regenerate barren land in California...and live in balance with nature."

Sea of Shadows (August 3, 8.30pm, 15+) is about the illegal fishing of the totoaba fish, the swim bladder of which is known as "the cocaine of the sea". This plundering, controlled by Mexican cartels, threatens other creatures the aquatic environment.

This fast-paced superbly crafted eco-thriller takes us aboard the Sea Shepherd in its desperate battle against Mexican cartels to protect the smallest porpoise in the world in the Sea of Cortez off the coast of Mexico.

In particular, de Feyter says, the vaquita - the smallest porpoise on the planet - needs protection.

"At the beginning of the film there are only 30 left."

Anthropocene - The Human Epoch (August 2, 8.30pm) , filmed over four years, deals with human interaction with the Earth on a broader scale, showing how we are reshaping the planet, from Kenya to Chile.

"It's a visual journey, it's not didactic at all," de Feyter says.

The closing-night-gala film is The Magic Life of V (MA, August 4, 6pm for 6.15pm), which will be followed by a celebration with food and drink.

De Feyter says it's about Veera, a woman who deals with her traumatic past through her alter ego V and Live Action Role Playing, where people act out characters and scenarios from fiction.

Very much working in the real world is the subject of Advocate (15+, August 2, 8.30pm). The film is about Israeli human rights lawyer Lea Tsemel, who defends Palestinian political prisoners and fights for Palestinian rights despite death threats.

"She's been quite a controversial figure for the last 40 years. She's tough, optimistic and funny."

Another woman who did challenging work for a long time is featured in Shooting the Mafia (MA August 3, 6.30pm). Sicilian photojournalist Letizia Battaglia, 83, covered the Mafia in her home town of Palermo for many years.

"She's also a really remarkable character," de Feyter says.

Battalgia became interested in photography after her teenage marriage ended in divorce. The latter did not stop her having many other love affairs and discussion of this is interwoven with clips from Italian films of the period.

Also doing challenging work are the subjects of Midnight Family (August 3, 4pm with Q&A). In Mexico City there are only 45 government ambulances for a population of nine million.

The Ochoa family operate one of many private ambulances. It's a cut-throat and corrupt industry but they do the best they can to work with integrity despite many difficulties.

Another film about a family is Midnight Traveller (15+, August 1, 6.30pm), about an Afghan refugee family - the parents are filmmakers - who chronicle their 5000-kilometre, three-year journey using smartphones.

Closer to home is In My Blood It Runs (PG, August 2, 6.15pm with Q&A).

De Feyter says it's about Dujuan, a 10-year-old boy who speaks English and two Indigenous languages as well as being a child healer. But all is not well with his life.

"He's failing school and is under scrutiny from Welfare and the police."

His family are fighting two battles: to give him a broad education, in both his Arrente culture and Western schooling, and to challenge the assumptions being made about him.

Other films also focus on children. Dive: Rituals in Water (G, August 1, 10am baby-friendly screening and August 3, 2.15pm) is about Icelandic swim instructor Snorri Magnusson, the "baby whisperer" who for 25 years has been teaching infants about the water.

And One Child Nation (15+, August 4, 4pm) uncovers the history of China's one-child policy from a personal perspective: the filmmaker, a product of that period and a mother herself, goes back to China to investigate it, both in her family and beyond.

"The secrets start to unfold."

One other thing is new this year. Dendy is inaugurating the Stronger than Fiction Award for short Australian documentary films. There's a total prize amount of $1000, with a special category for students. Films can be as short as one or two minutes. Judges will be looking for true stories that are stronger than fiction. For more information visit strongerdocs.com.