“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

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

January 29th

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.

UAE Premiere at Xposure in Dubai

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Global Partners
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 @tradesecretfilm just screened at the 33rd Hamptons International Film Festival @hamptonsfilm. Following the screening, animal rights icon Zelda Penzel took the stage to speak on the importance of the film — and presented it with t
Trade Secret was in high demand at this year’s Climate Film Festival @climatefilmfestnyc in New York, filling two packed cinemas and opening with remarks from marine icon Dr. Sylvia Earle @dr.sylviaearle who described the film as “a life-

  • “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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