“The Python Hunt” Slithers to Something Deeper
Even for an American, something about Florida feels like a foreign place. Most states have their own identities, their own quirks that locals love, but those tend to pale in comparison to the oddities of Florida. Case in point: Xander Robin’s documentary The Python Hunt. The film premiered at the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival, where it picked up the Documentary Feature Competition Special Jury Award. Later, The Python Hunt returned to its hometown festival, the Miami Film Festival, and won the Made in MIA Feature Film Award. Now it’s time for The Python Hunt to slither to a theatrical release.
Burmese pythons are an invasive species in the Florida Everglades. According to the National Park Service, these snakes have ended up there because of “accidental or intentional release” by exotic pet owners. The pythons blend in extremely well with the Everglades environment, which makes it difficult to estimate the number that exist in the wild. What scientists can agree on, though, is that these reptiles pose a threat to the Everglades. In an effort to control this invasive species, the National Park Service holds an annual Florida Python Challenge. For ten days, approved individuals hunt these reptiles, competing against one another to bring in the most snakes at the end of the challenge.
Courtesy of The Python Hunt
The Python Hunt brings together born-and-bred Floridians and out-of-staters who approach this challenge with different goals. One Floridian isn’t the biggest fan of this event, as he sees it as making light of the real issues that plague the Everglades. A woman in her 80s has come because she wants to experience what it’s like to kill a snake. She’s adamant that she will do it in a humane manner, by way of pithing, but there’s also a feeling that this woman wants to taste violence, albeit in a somewhat controlled manner. Another participant is a journalist, but he doesn’t look like what you’d expect from someone in that profession. He’s got a deep southern drawl and wears baggy clothes that scream “python hunter,” not “journalist,” but some of the film’s final words are from the piece he was writing during the challenge. It’s a beautiful rumination on the oddity of the state contrasted with the natural beauty of the park they’re trying to save.
Courtesy of The Python Hunt
The Python Hunt exists entirely in this duality; between the absurdity of people driving through the swamps of Florida with massive lights on their trucks, carrying machetes and various other weapons, and the genuine ecological questions the challenge ponders. As one of the guys mentions, no one hunts outdoor cats like this, despite the havoc they create in local environments. Is this a case of prejudice against snakes or is it about ridding an endangered space of an invasive species? Or maybe it’s about allowing humans to pretend to be the violent explorers they once were.
The Python Hunt is in an interesting conversation with Sasha Wortzel’s documentary, River of Grass. Both are about the Everglades and its fragile ecosystem, but they come at the problem in wildly different ways. Both documentaries have lyrical qualities to them, with River of Grass being more melodical in its form, but they differ in their means of expressing conservationist ideals. There is no one right way to approach saving these important natural environments and it’s exciting to see Floridian voices telling these stories for themselves. The Python Hunt is thrilling and weird, but what remains is a reminder of how easily we humans can carelessly and devastatingly alter the world around us.
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