National Geographic Acquires Leonardo DiCaprio's SEA OF SHADOWS

National Geographic Documentary Films has acquired the documentary Sea of Shadows in a $3 million worldwide deal, according to Deadline.

The film recently won the Sundance Audience Award for World Cinema Documentary. The Richard Ladkani-directed documentary is produced by Terra Mater Factual Studios in association with Leonardo DiCaprio and Appian Way, Malaika Pictures and Wild Lens Collective. The deal was negotiated on behalf of the filmmakers by Josh Braun, Ben Braun, Matt Burke and Ben Schwartz of Submarine. Sea of Shadows premiered Sunday, January 27 at the Prospector Square Theater.

The documentary is framed as a tense thriller that spotlights a rescue mission to save a collapsing ecosystem and with it, the vaquita - the most endangered and elusive whale on earth. In the Sea of Cortez, a war is being waged by Mexican drug cartels and Chinese traffickers. A native species of fish, the totoaba, are being poached at an alarming rate because of a superstitious belief among some in China that their bladders - which cost more per ounce than gold - possess miraculous healing powers. Nicknamed the "cocaine of the sea," these extremely rare fish have triggered a multimillion-dollar BLACK MARKET that threatens not only their existence, but virtually all marine life in the region - including the endangered whale known as the vaquita.

Scientists, high-tech conservationists, investigative journalists, undercover agents and the Mexican Navy put their lives on the line to save the last remaining vaquita and bring the VICIOUS international crime syndicate to justice.

Read the original article on Deadline.