by Alex Billington
April 21, 2026
Source: YouTube
“The Burning Man of snake hunting: it brings the wrong kind of attention to this problem.” 🐍 Oscope Labs has unveiled an official trailer for a documentary film titled The Python Hunt, going right into the jungle during the annual snake hunt in Florida. This first premiered at the 2025 SXSW Film Festival last year and it also screened at Beyond Fest, Sitges, Miami, Nashville, Philadelphia, and tons of other local film festivals. Every year the Florida government invites folks to compete in an invasive Burmese python removal contest in the Everglades to help with overpopulation and species management. For 10 nights, an eclectic group of hunters confront the dangerous terrain, nocturnal creatures and their own desires. “The film features some impressive moments of snake spectacle, but the real attraction is the human drama that emerges from the larger-than-life personalities.” This sounds like a wild & crazy descent into the mad minds of snake hunters. One review says: “The Python Hunt is a documentary that might do for the Burmese Python what Jaws did 50 years ago for the Great White Shark.” Maybe? Or maybe it’s another reminder to stay away from Florida.
Here’s the official trailer (+ poster) for Xander Robin’s doc The Python Hunt, direct from YouTube:
“The Python Hunt is about the thousands of other people who showed up with the same idea, from amateurs convinced they could fix an unsolvable problem of our own making, to the gladesmen who watched wildlife disappear long before the pythons arrived. Out there, everyone has a theory about what’s really happening; about the snakes, about the state, even about the ecosystem itself. I love our whole cast for different reasons and, as we spent long days & nights together in one of the most beautiful and maddening places on earth, I was drawn to how each of their perspectives could be convincing.”–Director Xander Robin
🐍 In an attempt to save the threatened ecosystem, the Florida government hosts an annual competition to remove invasive pythons from the Everglades. For ten grueling nights, python-mania overtakes the ‘glades as an eclectic group of amateur hunters contends with unforgiving terrain, aggressive nocturnal creatures and their own desires and demons that push them deep into the swamp, searching for slithering glory. The Python Hunt is directed by American filmmaker Xander Robin, director of the films Are We Not Cats and Omniboat: A Fast Boat Fantasia previously, and the series “Chillin Island” plus other shorts. Produced by Xander Robin, Lance Oppenheim, Lauren Cioffi, Melissa Oppenheim. This initially premiered at the 2025 SXSW Film Festival last year where it also won a Special Jury Prize. Oscilloscope Labs releases Robin’s The Python Hunt doc in select US theaters starting May 8th, 2026 coming soon. Who’s intrigued?
