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2025

Trade Secret

Australian Premiere.

Guest in attendance.

A calm, clear-eyed exposé of the international polar bear fur trade and the legal frameworks that allow it to flourish. Spanning six years and nine countries, Trade Secret reveals how political and commercial interests are reshaping the meaning of conservation.

Director

Abraham Joffe

Runtime

98 Minutes

Country

United Kingdom, Australia

Classification

Unclassified 15+

Trade Secret is a meticulously composed exposé that investigates how the global trade in polar bear fur continues under the guise of conservation, effectively treating extinction as a business opportunity.

Over six years and across nine countries, Australian filmmaker Abraham Joffe follows a small alliance of legal researchers, environmental advocates and Indigenous voices as they confront an uncomfortable truth; the international regulatory system designed to protect wildlife may be enabling its destruction. With rare access to Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora conferences, luxury auction houses, trophy hunting expos and communities across the Arctic, the film untangles the web of trade law, cultural practice and political inertia that allows vulnerable species to be bought and sold. It presents a chilling case study on how conservation is co-opted by commercial and geopolitical agendas.

Executive produced by Adam McKay, 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.
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Film Credits

Director

Abraham Joffe

Year

2025

Country

United Kingdom & Australia

Language

English

Type

Documentary & Feature

Program Strand

Change Award & World Documentary

Producer

Abraham JoffeLouis Cooper Robinson & Dom West

Cinematographer

Dom West ACS

Editor

Nico Bee

Music

Jesse Watt

Film Source

Untitled Film Works

Genre

ActivismDocumentaryEnvironmental & Politics

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