A Sundance Audience Award winner, Sea of Shadows is a riveting eco-thriller documenting the fight to save the world’s most endangered whale from a high-stakes black market involving Mexican cartels and the Chinese mafia.

Famously called “the world’s aquarium” by Jacques Cousteau, the Sea of Cortez separating Baja California from the Mexican mainland is one of the most ecologically biodiverse bodies of water on the planet. Among the thousands of species that call it home are two endangered animals found nowhere else: the totoaba, a fish euphemistically dubbed 'aquatic cocaine' due to the exorbitant prices Chinese gourmands are willing to pay for its swim bladder; and the vaquita porpoise, the world’s smallest whale, which has become collateral damage in the illegal gillnet fishing of the totoaba – with the result being that there are approximately only 30 left in the world.

Documentarian and cinematographer Richard Ladkani dives headfirst into this drama as he charts the efforts of Sea Shepherd, investigative journalists, scientists, local fishermen, the navy and undercover agents to bring the vaquita back from the brink of extinction, while also combating the poachers, traffickers and mobsters threatening the totoaba, and all marine life in the area. Executive produced by Leonardo di Caprio, Sea of Shadows is another gripping, beautifully shot cri de cœur from the co-director of The Ivory Game; that it plays like a Hollywood thriller is testament to the urgency of its message.

“A stirring adventure—inspiring and heartbreaking in equal measure.” – Hollywood Reporter

Contains distressing scenes involving animals