Racing Extinction
An undercover operation to expose the hidden world of endangered species and the threat of mass extinction.
In the groundbreaking documentary Racing Extinction, director Louie Psihoyos and the group behind the Academy Award®-winning film The Cove assembles a team of artists and activists on a new undercover operation to expose the hidden world of endangered species and the race to protect them against mass extinction. Spanning the globe to infiltrate the world's most dangerous black markets and using high-tech tactics to document the link between carbon emissions and species extinction, the documentary reveals stunning, never-before-seen images that truly change the way we see the world. (Source: OPS / racingextinction.com)
- Year
- 2015
- Hunter's role
- Cinematographer & MōVi Operator
- Director
- Louie Psihoyos
- Type
- Feature Doc
- Runtime
- 90 minutes
- Countries
- USA, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, UK
Collaborators
- Mark Monroe — Co-founder, Diamond Docs
- Louie Psihoyos — Executive Director, Oceanic Preservation Society (OPS)
- Wilder Knight — Of Counsel, Pryor Cashman LLP; Board Treasurer, OPS Productions
- Lyman Smith
- Geoffrey Richman, A.C.E. — Represented by Murtha Skouras Agency
- J. Ralph
- Paul Nicklen — Co-founder, SeaLegacy; National Geographic Fellow
- Cristina Mittermeier — President & Co-founder, SeaLegacy
- Shawn Heinrichs — Marine Conservation Cinematographer, Activist.
- Sia
- Anohni — Musician, Performance Artist, Activist.
- Leilani Münter — Professional Race Car Driver, Environmental Activist.
- Travis Threlkel — Creative Technologist. Founder of Obscura Digital.
- Paula Dupré Pesmen — Producer, Philanthropist.
- Bill & Laurie Benenson — Co-founders of Benenson Productions.
- Paul G. Allen — Deceased (2018). Legacy through Paul G. Allen Family Foundation and Vulcan Productions.
- Marc Benioff — Chair & CEO, Salesforce; Co-owner, TIME
- Gina Papabeis
- John Behrens
- Fisher Stevens — Co-founder, Insurgent Media
- Jennifer R. Nolan — Co-Executive Producer (Family)
- Michael Cain — President & Executive Producer, M3 Films; Co-founder & President, EarthxFilm + EarthxTV.
- Paul Hilton — Conservation Photojournalist.
Awards
PREMIERE: Sundance Film Festival — January 24, 2015 (World Premiere, U.S. Documentary Competition) WINS (4): • Cinema for Peace — International Green Film Award (2016) • Melbourne IFF — Award (2015) • Boulder IFF — Award (2015) • Millennium Docs Against Gravity — Award (2015) NOMINATIONS (8): • 88th Academy Awards — Best Original Song, 'Manta Ray' by J. Ralph & Anohni (2016) • Primetime Emmy — Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking (2016) • Sundance — U.S. Documentary Competition (2015) • IDFA — Audience Award (14th Place) (2015) • People's Choice Award — Best Documentary (2015) • Moscow IFF — 2 nominations (2015) • Motion Picture Sound Editors — nomination • Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival — nomination
Festivals
Sundance Film Festival — January 24, 2015 (World Premiere, U.S. Documentary Competition) • Melbourne International Film Festival • Moscow International Film Festival • Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival • Boulder International Film Festival • IDFA (Amsterdam) • Millennium Docs Against Gravity • Limited theatrical release — September 18, 2015 (Abramorama, US + 9 markets) • Discovery Channel broadcast premiere — December 2, 2015 (220 countries/territories)
Real-world impact
Projection events onto the Vatican, the United Nations, and the Empire State Building generated over one billion impressions and brought the extinction crisis to a global audience in a single night. The film's covert operations exposed illegal whale meat restaurants and the shark fin and manta ray gill trade in Hong Kong and China, contributing to manta rays being added to CITES Appendix II as a protected species. Over 44,000 lesson plans were downloaded by educators, reaching more than 2.2 million students, and the #StartWith1Thing campaign mobilized individual action worldwide.