Sea of Shadows is a 2019 documentary about environmental activists (Sea Shepherd), the Mexican Navy, marine scientists and undercover investigators trying to prevent the extinction of the vaquita, a species of porpoise and the smallest whale in the world, by pulling gillnets, doing research, and fighting back Mexican cartels and Chinese mafia who are destroying ocean habitats in their brutal pursuit to harvest the swim bladder of the totoaba fish, known as the "cocaine of the sea".[6][7][2][3][8][9] The 1 hour and 44 minutes long film is directed by Richard Ladkani.
Reception
Sea of Shadows premiered in Austria on September 20, 2019.[3] It won the Sundance award for World Cinema Documentary and was acquired by the National Geographic Channel for broadcast The film received the Cinema for Peace International Green Film Award in 2020. [2][10][11] "Conveying just how fraught and delicate conservation efforts can be, logistically and emotionally, an extraordinary sequence unfolds as a pursuit on the water, placing the viewer smack in the midst of it."[9]
^"Sea of Shadows Official Trailer". National Geographic. 2019-05-30. Retrieved 2020-02-29 – via YouTube. (1:58) "In award-winning SEA OF SHADOWS, a multinational team of scientists, activists, journalists and undercover agents go up against drug cartels and illegal traffickers to save the most endangered whale on Earth. In select theaters July 12."
^Sundance Institute (2019-01-08). "World Documentary Competition: Sea of Shadows". Sundance Institute. Retrieved 2020-02-29 – via YouTube. (2:54) "Meet Richard Ladkani, director of Sea of Shadows, playing in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival."
