“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 the award for
Best Independent Film
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.

Upcoming Screenings

SALT SPRING, CANADA

1st March

Following its Canadian Premiere at the Salt Spring Film Festival on 28th Feb, Trade Secret will screen again on Sunday, March 1, for the festival’s deeply engaged Salt Spring Island audiences, known for their progressive outlook and strong environmental focus.

SALT SPRING TICKETS

BERGEN, NORWAY

Trade Secret will have its Bergen premiere on 2 March 2026, 18:00–20:30 at Litteraturhuset Bergen, hosted by the University of Bergen in collaboration with the Polar Network and Academia Europaea. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion and Q&A featuring Adam Cruise and Ole J. Liodden, exploring the film’s investigation into the global commercial trade in polar bear skins and its implications for conservation and policy.

March 2nd 6:00 PM

BERGEN TICKETS

SAN DIEGO, USA

Trade Secret will have its San Diego premiere on March 20th 2026, 18:00 at the BlueWater Film Festival in San Diego, California hosted by the Blue Water Insitute. The BWI celebrates UN – World Water Day, March 22nd and promotes San Diego, California as a hub for marine science, naval exploration and an epicenter for environmental storytelling.

March 20th, 6:00 PM

SAN DIEGO TICKETS

CALIFORNIA, USA

Trade Secret will screen at the Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival on Saturday April 11th at 7:00 PM at Rialto Cinemas.

The Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival is a respected Northern California festival known for bold, socially conscious nonfiction storytelling. The screening will take place at Rialto Cinemas Sebastopol, the festival’s central venue and a beloved independent theatre in Sonoma County.

April 11th 7:00 PM

SEBASTOPOL TICKETS

LOS ANGELES, USA

Trade Secret will screen at the CREDO 23 Film Festival in Los Angeles on Saturday, March 28. CREDO 23 is a filmmaker-first festival that takes a pretty clear position against AI, putting the emphasis back on human authorship and craft. It’s backed by a council of filmmakers and artists including Justine Bateman, Reed Morano, Matthew Weiner, Juliette Lewis, and Arianne Phillips - people who care deeply about how films are actually made - and by whom.

March 28th

LA 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

Support the Film

Help bring Trade Secret to global audiences