Paul and I spent a week in Hong Kong last month working with some really inspiring people. You see, Shark Savers is extending their Shark Fin Soup campaign to Hong Kong and we are fortunate enough to lead the media side of things. We shot in Hong Kong for a week, interviewing people who had given up shark fin soup and capturing their very personal, poignant stories on film. It is thru their words this story will be told.
We talked to a woman who found a finned whale shark alive on a beach and told her story to the world ensuring 10,000’s of people never ate shark fin soup again, a father who stopped eating shark fin soup the day his (now four year old) son turned one month old and he was expected to celebrate with shark fin soup at his banquet, a famous director who’s six year old daughter asked him to stop eating shark fin and since then he has become an outspoken advocate even hosting a A-lister party where imitation shark fin soup was served, several bold wedding couples who bucked the system, stood up to their parents and didn’t serve shark fin soup at their weddings, a new mom who announced her pregnancy on camera and said her motivation for talking with us was to ensure her child was able to see sharks in the wild, a classroom full of kids who are taking on their community, the leader of a campaign that has 160 schools saying no to shark fin soup, and many, many other passionate individuals.
Most of our trips in the field are depressing as all our senses are assaulted with the bleak realities we shark conservationists have accepted as part of our daily reality. This trip filled me with hope as I came face to face with people really making a difference every day. I know now things can change. And they are.
See the trailer we produced as teaser for the film series and check out the movement sweeping Hong Kong.
