Every year, hundreds of professional hunters, thrill-seekers, and curious amateurs descend on South Florida for the annual Florida Python Challenge — a 10-day competition aimed at removing invasive Burmese pythons from the Everglades.
The massive snakes have become one of the region’s most destructive predators, devastating native wildlife and spreading deeper into the fragile ecosystem. Since 2000, tens of thousands of pythons have been captured, yet the population continues to grow.
In The Python Hunt, filmmaker Xander Robin's debut feature-length documentary film, viewers go deep into the swamps of the Everglades, following hunters as they attempt to “pith,” or humanely kill, the elusive reptiles.
" I think the point [of the film] is that maybe the pythons get a lot of the publicity of the demise of the Everglades," he said in an interview with WLRN's the South Florida Roundup. "It has to be just one of the many causes of the decline over the years... Snake enthusiasts are worried that people get a little too cruel and 'rah-rah' about, you know, sort of placing all the blame on this invasive [species]."
READ MORE: Not a petting zoo: Researchers track Burmese pythons with South Florida congresswoman
What begins as a high-stakes competition — complete with a $10,000 grand prize for the hunter who captures the most snakes — quickly reveals itself to be far more complicated. Robin’s film explores the physical danger, ethical questions, and environmental uncertainty surrounding the effort to control an invasive species that may already be impossible to eliminate.
" There's a film called Hands on a Hard Body, which is like a sort of comedy of errors competition film about this contest to win a hard body pickup truck in a small town. I was always interested in the sort of comedy of errors and a way of that it, yeah, does seem kind of like a publicity stunt, just sort of a boondoggle. I also was moved by how earnest people were about trying to save the environment and also spending time out there. Even the moments where you're just getting eaten alive by bugs and you think nature wants you dead."
Along the way, The Python Hunt captures not just the adrenaline of the chase, but the uneasy reality of humans trying to correct an ecological crisis that may be beyond repair.
" We shot [the film] in 2023, and as years have gone by, there's been a lot of dialogue about, you know, the question of development in the Everglades. Like... should we have land developers on the board of [the Fish and Wildlife Commission]?" Robin said. "I'm not even part of this conversation. I'm just trying to make an awesome movie about the Florida Python Challenge, and all these people are talking about this."
This year's competition will take place from July 10-19, and registration is currently open.
Listen here to the May 22, 2026, interview with Xander Robin, director of The Python Hunt, on WLRN's South Florida Roundup with host Tim Padgett wherever you get your podcasts.
