Extinction Soup!

And here's another great initiative.

Stefanie writes,

I am happy to announce that we are FINALLY completing our shark documentary called “Extinction Soup”.

We are in the final stretch and I am reaching out to everyone I know to help me spread the word and to raise funds.

We have created an Indiegogo campaign.

Please check it out and forward the link to all your friends. Post it, "like" it, blog it or shout it from the roof top… whatever you are inspired to do, it will help us a great deal. (and if you feel inclined to donate we would appreciate even the smallest amount)

A little background info to the story:

The film is about the trade of shark fins, the horrendous effects it has on shark populations around the globe and the struggle of activists to put an end to shark fin soup.

The film is also a personal story.

It shows us why Jimmy Hall inspired so many people to care for sharks and how his enthusiasm for life affected everyone around him, and it follows my own personal journey into politics when I became involved in the campaign for the ban on shark fins in Hawaii – a legislative success that sparked a wave of similar action across the Pacific and the United States.

The story is told by Phil Waller, who was inspired by Jimmy and by learning about the plight of sharks. He has been the driving force behind our three-year effort to put this film together.

We have been able to get this far with very limited resources.

Our own money, our own time and random skills and LOTS of help from friends that contributed footage and agreed to be interviewed for the film.

Our goal has been to keep the integrity of the story and to tell it without succumbing to the pressure of production companies to sensationalize sharks for the sake of ratings.

The general advice I have been getting is that shark films will only sell if they bank on the fear of sharks. I think that view is outdated and that networks are not giving the audience enough credit. 

Most people are not that ignorant. At least I hope so.

My feeling is - Lets prove them wrong!

Indeed!

Although I believe that Love not Loss (and here...) is ultimately the preferred strategy for promoting conservation, I of course fully support this project as the story needs to be told, if only in order to document the tremendous pioneering achievements of the original Hawaiian Shark conservation movement.

Here's the trailer

So wishing the team the very best of success!

And having checked, it looks like it's off to a great start: 6k after only one week is great news indeed! Just one suggestion: the principal lesson learned from the AABS project is, keep up the noise or the donations will quickly fizzle out!

In diesem Sinne!

Please share and support Stefanie's project.

Thank you!

PS: website here and Facebook page here!