

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.
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.
Film Credits
Director
Abraham Joffe
Year
2025
Country
United Kingdom & Australia
Language
English
Type
Documentary & Feature
Program Strand
Change Award & World Documentary
Producer
Abraham Joffe, Louis Cooper Robinson & Dom West
Cinematographer
Dom West ACS
Editor
Nico Bee
Music
Jesse Watt
Film Source
Untitled Film Works
Genre
Activism, Documentary, Environmental & Politics
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