🚨 Trade Secret is officially sold out! New screening added for closing night
Announcing an additional screening on Sunday, Sept. 22 at 5pm
Our closing night film, Trade Secret, has sold out!
We’ve added an additional screening at the same time and same location, in another theater. Don’t miss out!
👉 Tickets for the additional screening here.
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.
Interested in covering this event? We have limited press passes still available for the original screening, which includes opening opening remarks by Dr. Sylvia Earle, director Abraham Joffe, and photographers Ole J Liodden, Cristina Mittermeier, and Paul Nicklen, moderated by journalist Costas Christ. If you are interested in covering this event, please reach out.
🎟️ Get them before they’re gone!
Waiting to buy tickets? Now’s the time! Check out our guide below:
🙏 Thank You to Our 2025 Festival Sponsors & Supporters
Premiere Sponsors: The Carmack Collective, NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council)
Visionary Sponsors: Agog, Nespresso, Universal Pictures,
Champion Sponsors: Compassion in World Farming, Climate Power, Earthrise Studio, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Mercy for Animals, Pique Action, The Puffin Foundation, SNØCAP, Tidal Vision, and Watershed.
The Guardian is the presenting media sponsor. The festival logo and design come from Studio Rodrigo. Legal services are from Romanette Legal. Earth Angel is the sustainability partner. Ecodeo created the festival trailer. The Everset provided furniture. Edge Auto loaned electrical vehicle services. The marquee theater partner is Regal. Awards are hand-crafted by Fernanda Uribe-Horta. Business development services were provided by ImpactECI.
Food and beverage in-kind partners include Bronx Brewery, Bear’s Fruit, Cafe d’Avignon, Just Ice Tea, Open Water, Remedy Organics, Rethink Food, and Stumptown. Screenings and events take place at DGA Theater, Regal Essex Crossing, Essex Market, and SVA Theatre.
This project is made possible in part with funds from Creative Engagement, a regrant program supported by the funding agencies the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA), the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone (UMEZ), and the Howard Gilman Foundation, and administered by LMCC.