''Sea of Shadows'' is a documentary about environmental activists (

Sea Shepherd The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...

), the

Mexican Navy The Mexican Navy is one of the two independent armed forces of Mexico. The actual naval forces are called the ''Armada de México''. The ''Secretaría de Marina'' (''SEMAR'') (English: Naval Secretariat) includes both the ''Armada'' itself and ...

, marine scientists and undercover investigators trying to prevent the extinction of the

vaquita The vaquita ( ; ''Phocoena sinus'') is a species of porpoise endemic to the northern end of the Gulf of California in Baja California, Mexico. Averaging (females) or (males) in length, it is the smallest of all living cetaceans. The species i ...

, a species of porpoise and the smallest whale in the world, by pulling

gillnets Gillnetting is a fishing method that uses gillnets: vertical panels of netting that hang from a line with regularly spaced floaters that hold the line on the surface of the water. The floats are sometimes called "corks" and the line with corks is ...

, doing research, and fighting back Mexican cartels and

Chinese mafia A triad ( zh , t=三合會 , s=三合会 , cy=sāam hahp wúi , j=saam1 hap6 wui6‑2 , hp=sān hé huì , first=t,j ) is a Chinese transnational organized crime syndicate based in Greater China and has outposts in various countries with significa ...

who are destroying ocean habitats in their brutal pursuit to harvest the swim bladder of the

totoaba The totoaba or totuava (''Totoaba macdonaldi'') is a species of marine fish, a very large member of the drum family Sciaenidae that is endemic to the Gulf of California in Mexico. It is the only species in the genus ''Totoaba''. Formerly abundan ...

fish, known as the "cocaine of the sea". The 1 hour and 44 minutes long film is directed by

Richard Ladkani Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'str ...

Reception

''Sea of Shadows'' premiered in Austria on September 20, 2019. It won the Sundance award for World Cinema Documentary and was acquired by the

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by the National Geographic Global Networks unit of Disney General ...

for broadcast The film received the Cinema for Peace International Green Film Award in 2020. ref> (2:54) "Meet Richard Ladkani, director of Sea of Shadows, playing in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival." "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."

References

External links

* *
RottenTomatoes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sea of Shadows 2019 documentary films 2019 films 2019 in the environment American documentary films Documentary films about animal rights Documentary films about Mexico Documentary films about ocean life

Documentary films A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in ter ...

Environment of Mexico Films about activists Films about dolphins Mexican documentary films National Geographic Society films 2010s Spanish-language films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films 2010s Mexican films

Reception

See also

References

External links