“A life-changing film.”

Dr. Sylvia Earle

A gripping exposé of the polar bear fur trade, revealing how conservation, politics and commercial interests collide in ways the public was never meant to see.

Trade Secret follows three unlikely allies on a mission to protect polar bears from international commercial trade. Filmed over six years across nine countries, the film exposes the sanctioned sale of hundreds of polar bears each year on the global market. But as the investigation deepens, it uncovers a disturbing truth: those entrusted with safeguarding the species may be entangled in their continued commercialisation. The film raises urgent questions about how we protect vulnerable species in a world where the lines between protection and exploitation have become blurred.

Synopsis

“It is a superbly crafted work - powerful, urgent, and deeply moving. It sheds light on a matter of global importance, and it does so with both journalistic integrity and cinematic finesse.”

Wolfgang Knöpfler,
Producer of ‘The Ivory Game’ and ‘Sea of Shadows’.

“A breathtaking masterpiece and unflinching exposé - confronting humanity’s betrayal of the wild and the devastating cost of losing a species forever.”

Kartiki Gonsalves
Academy Award winning director of ‘The Elephant Whisperers’

Recent Screenings and Awards

Opening Film at Wildscreen
Winner GOLDEN PANDA award for Best Production and the award for
Best Independent Film
Bristol, UK

Trade Secret has received a nomination for the International Green Film Award by the Cinema for Peace. Gala Awards 16th February in Berlin, Germany

CITES COP20
Trade Secret held a crucial screening to delegates at CITES in Samarkand, Uzbekistan 30th November 20205

Award Winner Hamptons International
Compassion, Justice & Animal Rights Award Winner - presented by Zelda Penzel
Hamptons, USA

Audience Award Winner
Climate Film Festival New York
International Premiere opened by Dr. Sylvia Earle. Also winner of Visionary Award.
New York City, USA

Change Award Winner
Adelaide Film Festival, Australia
AFF describes the film as “a meticulously composed exposé…Trade Secret avoids sensationalism in favour of clear-eyed, forensic storytelling. Calm and quietly damning.”

World Premiere
Sheffield DocFest, UK
Trade Secret received its first press with a review from NowThen Magazine - describing it as: “riveting.. unflinching storytelling.”

Investigative Film Nominee
Jackson Wild, Wyoming
Abraham Joffe also took part in a panel titled “Investigative Journalism: Courage in the Search for Truth" moderated by Andreas Crostas.

Centrepiece Film at Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival
Washington DC, USA
Professor David E. Guggenheim moderated a post screening discussion with Abraham Joffe, Iris Ho and Costas Christ.

Austrian Premiere at Mountain Film Festival Graz, Australia.
Trade Secret received an Honourable Mention by the jury in the ‘Nature and Environment’ programme.

Upcoming Screenings

PALM SPRINGS, USA

Trade Secret will screen at the prestigious Palm Springs International Film Festival on both the 5th and 11th of January.

JANUARY 5th + 11th
Palm Springs, CALIFORNIA

GET PALM SPRINGS TICKETS

EXETER, UK

Exeter Screening of Trade Secret with live Q+A with director Abraham Joffe
Cinema Location: Bradninch Place, Gandy Street, Exeter, EX4 3LS

JANUARY 21st 5:30pm
Phoenix Cinema, Exeter

GET EXETER TICKETS

PLYMOUTH, UK

Exeter Screening of Trade Secret with live Q+A with director Abraham Joffe
Cinema Location: Tavistock Place, Plymouth PL4 8AT

JANUARY 22nd 5:45pm Plymouth Arts Cinema

GET PLYMOUTH TICKETS

UAE PREMIERE

January 31st 6:00pm UAE

Xposure International Photography & Film Festival, held annually in Sharjah, UAE, is one of the region’s leading visual storytelling events celebrating environmental and humanitarian filmmaking. Trade Secret will screen as part of the festival’s official film programme, marking its UAE Premiere. On the 2nd February Abraham will join wildlife investigative journalist Adam Cruise on stage for a panel discussion called: Exposing the Trade Secret: A Conservation Paradox

XPOSURE TICKETS

WILD + SCENIC, USA

Trade Secret will screen as part of the 2026 Wild & Scenic Film Festival, one of the world’s leading environmental film festivals, taking place February 19–23, 2026 in Nevada City and Grass Valley, California. Known for inspiring environmental activism through film, Wild & Scenic provides a powerful platform for Trade Secret, an investigative feature that challenges audiences to confront the hidden forces shaping wildlife conservation and what meaningful protection for our planet demands.

February 19th-23rd CALIFORNIA

WILD & SCENIC TICKETS

Global Partners
Last night in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, we held what was undoubtedly the most important screening Trade Secret @tradesecretfilm has ever had - and perhaps ever will have.
 At the Hotel Minyon, where many of the 4,000 delegates attending the 20th Meeting
BREAKING NEWS:: The European Parliament @europeanparliament has adopted a resolution ahead of CITES @cites COP20, calling on all EU Member States to push for stronger protection of polar bears and to address the threats posed by the trade in trophies
Hailed as one of the most talked-about documentaries of 2025, Trade Secret has been selected as the Centrepiece Film at this year’s Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival in Washington, DC. Saturday 1 November – 2PM Followed by a li
One of the few @tradesecretfilm tote bags we had made and handed out at our screenings in the Hamptons and LA. It simply sums up what most people have felt upon learning that polar bears (and many other vulnerable species) still face the threat of in
“A life-changing film” - Dr. Sylvia Earle Join us for one night only screening of ‘Trade Secret’ @tradesecretfilm as the OPENING FILM of the Wildscreen Industry Summit. Screening followed with live Q+A with director Abraham J

  • “Trade Secret avoids sensationalism in favour of clear-eyed, forensic storytelling. Calm and quietly damning, it compels us to ask whether environmental protection has become just another market strategy. “

    Adelaide Film Festival

  • This is more than a film - it’s a wake-up call. Gripping, shocking, heartbreaking, and impossible to ignore. The revelations are staggering and demand global attention. You'll walk away shaken, questioning everything - and wanting everyone you know to watch it. This could be the spark for real change.

    Rachael Scott, Producer Director Frozen Planet 2, Our Oceans

  • It is a superbly crafted work - powerful, urgent, and deeply moving. The storytelling is razor-sharp, the cinematography both beautiful and harrowing, and its message could not be more relevant. It sheds light on a matter of global importance, and it does so with both journalistic integrity and cinematic finesse.

    Wolfgang Knöpfler, Producer ‘The Ivory Game, and ‘Sea of Shadows’.

  • If 'Blackfish' had such impact for the orca, then 'Trade Secret' is set to become an iconic film and a wake-up call about the dirty secrets in the wildlife trade.

    Pete Matthews IMDB

  • “Trade Secret, complete with a mid-film twist that Hollywood script writers would die for, forces a reckoning: if we don’t confront the corruption behind legalised wildlife trade today, what will be left to protect tomorrow?”

    NowThen Magazine

  • "A life changing film. This film is not just about polar bears. It's a film that speaks to where we are early in the 21st century and should give us all reason to think: how did we get here from our distant past, to where our relationship with nature is today?

    Dr. Sylvia Earle

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