Last fin - live on wild commons

This short film is now streaming on Wild Commons, the new YouTube channel and distribution platform created by Wild Lens and Impact Media Lab.

Sharks have patrolled the world's oceans for more than 400 million years, shaping marine ecosystems long before dinosaurs walked the Earth. Today, more than 500 species inhabit nearly every corner of the ocean, playing a vital role in keeping marine food webs in balance. But many of those species are now in serious decline, driven largely by a single human demand: the global trade in shark fins, worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually, with an estimated 100 million sharks killed each year.

The Last Fin, directed by Lexi Addison, takes that global crisis and makes it personal. Set in Tanjung Luar, Indonesia, the film follows a fishing community whose livelihoods have long been built around the sea, and whose future is now tangled up with the future of sharks. Rather than framing conservation as a straightforward conflict between right and wrong, the film listens first. It explores the international markets, consumer demand, and government policies that shape what happens on the docks each morning, and asks not just how we save sharks, but how we build a future where conservation and coastal livelihoods can succeed together.

Beautifully photographed and deeply compassionate, The Last Fin reflects a broader shift in how conservation is being practiced: built with communities rather than imposed upon them, and grounded in empathy as much as science.

Why This Film Matters
Sharks are ecologically essential and biologically vulnerable, slow to mature and slow to recover from overfishing. Protecting them cannot mean ignoring the people whose lives depend on the sea. The Last Fin makes the case that lasting conservation requires honest engagement with economic reality, not just regulation. It is a film that leaves viewers with a deeper understanding of sharks, and of the communities whose futures are inseparable from the health of our oceans.

Film Credits
Director: Lexi Addison
Location: Tanjung Luar, Indonesia
Runtime: 5 minutes

The film is now available to stream on the Wild Commons YouTube channel, the new filmmaker-owned distribution platform that Wild Lens recently launched in collaboration with Impact Media Lab.