“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’

International Awards

GOLDEN PANDA award for Best Production and
Best Independent Film Award
Bristol, UK. Trade Secret also opened Wildscreen in 2025

Compassion, Justice & Animal Rights Award Winner at Hamptons International Film Festival - 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.”

Human rights in Action Award - FIPADOC Documentary Film Festival in Biarritz, France

Achievement Award in Film and Documentary at the Xposure International Film Awards 2026, selected from over 634 entries across 60+ countries

Transparency Jury Prize from SIMA selected by an international jury from a global field spanning 43 countries. The award recognises films that demonstrate exceptional integrity, accountability in investigative storytelling.

Trade Secret has been awarded the Spirit of Activism Award at the 2026 Colorado Environmental Film Festival.

Trade Secret was awarded the Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature Documentary, The Director’s Prize and Eco Prize at the 2026 Blue Water Film Festival.

Upcoming Screenings

KONGSBERG, NORWAY

October 10th

Trade Secret will screen at Natura – Film Festival in Kongsberg, Norway, with sessions on Friday 9 October at 9:30pm and Saturday 10 October at 3:45pm. Natura is Norway's festival for nature and environmental film, running 8 to 11 October with a program of documentaries, talks and events for families.
NATURA TICKETS

Trade Secret will screen in competition at the SunChild International Environmental Festival in Yerevan, Armenia. Founded by the Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets, SunChild is the first and only environmental film festival in the South Caucasus. Its 14th edition is dedicated to biodiversity conservation and runs in parallel with the UN Biodiversity Conference COP17, hosted by Armenia this year.

WASHINGTON DC, USA

October 9th, 10th

Trade Secret will screen at Washington West Film Festival on the 10th of October. Iris Ho, from the film will be present in person for a live discussion following the screening.

WASHINGTON TICKETS

ALBERTVILLE, FRANCE

October 14th, 17th

Trade Secret will screen at Le Grand Bivouac in Albertville, France, as Secrets de Fabrication. Founded in 2002 and set in the French Alps, it is one of Europe's major documentary and travel-writing festivals, drawing over 35,000 visitors across a week of screenings, debates and Q&As.
LE GRAND TICKETS

NEW YORK

October 16th

Trade Secret will screen at Explorer’s Club in New York City on the 16th of October. Abraham Joffe, Dr Adam Cruise and Costas Christ will be present in person for a discussion with environmentalist Sally Ranney following the screening.

EXPLORER'S CLUB TICKETS

YEREVAN, ARMENIA

October 18th

SUNCHILD TICKETS

Trade Secret will screen at the Friday Harbor Film Festival on San Juan Island, Washington. Now in its 14th year, the festival is dedicated to documentary films that entertain, inspire and enlighten, and every screening is followed by a filmmaker Q&A.

FRIDAY HARBOR, WASHINGTON
FRIDAY HABOR TICKETS

BARCELONA, SPAIN

Trade Secret will screen in the Official Section at SUNCINE in Barcelona and Calafell, Spain. Founded in 1993, SUNCINE is the world's oldest environmental film festival. Its 33rd edition also streams online via CaixaForum+.

October 22nd, 25th

November 20th

Trade Secret will screen at the Red Rock Film Festival in Southern Utah. Now in its 20th year, the festival runs in Cedar City and St. George near Zion National Park, with a long-standing focus on documentary.

CEDAR CITY, UTAH

November 20th

RED ROCK TICKETS
BARCELONA TICKETS

Global Partners
Dr. Sylvia Earle speaks at the International Premiere of Trade Secret

Follow @tradesecretfilm on instagram

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 @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 @tradesecretfilm has been selected as the Centre­piece film at the prestigious Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival @dx_fest in Washington, DC for Nov 1st 2pm. The screening will be followed by a live discussion with director
The day has arrived - Trade Secret makes its International Premiere tonight at the Climate Film Festival in New York.

We’re thrilled to share that the film sold out two large cinemas a full week before the screenings. Even more humbling - mari

  • “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