In the sun-drenched landscape of South Florida cinema, filmmaker Xander Robin has always embraced the delightfully strange. His debut feature, Are We Not Cats, premiered at the seventy-third Venice Film Festival and went on to garner attention on the international festival circuit. In 2021, the Hallandale native directed three episodes of HBO’s Chillin Island for the Safdie Brothers’ Elara Pictures. Most recently, Robin turned his lens toward the Everglades with his first documentary, The Python Hunt. The film, which captures the intensity of python hunters as they track one of South Florida’s most invasive species, premiered at SXSW 2025, where it received a Special Jury Award.
Aventura: As a filmmaker, what drew you to focus on the invasive Burmese python phenomenon?
Robin: I grew up in South Florida and was always fascinated by reptiles for so many reasons, enough so that I moved back to Florida from New York and wrote an entire feature film dedicated to them. When my scripted feature project stalled, my friend and producer Lance Oppenheim reached out to me and suggested making a film about the Python Challenge. I had known about the bounty program but not the competition, as it hadn’t been a mainstay at that time. In the summer of 2022, I joined the competition. The whirlwind experience of participating, along with the people I met, made it clear that there was a unique film to be made about this story.
How did you strike a balance between telling a grounded, human story and maintaining the cinematic suspense of tracking a top predator?
It was important for us to set the stage at the outset of the film by giving the viewer a crash course in the history of the Burmese python in South Florida, told by one of our cast members, reptile expert Joe Wasilewski. We felt the most interesting way to tell this story was to focus on the unique “characters” drawn to this event and understand their motivations through their individual perspectives. With each cast member, we could explore different themes, archetypes, and points of view regarding the hunt and conservation at large, allowing the audience to read between the lines and take away what they want.
What surprised you most about their motivation and lifestyle?
It’s always been fascinating to me that the people most drawn to removing these snakes are the people who love and respect reptiles the most. I was also surprised by how many people didn’t come from Florida or were recent transplants looking for new activities to do. While many hunters are old-school Floridians, it felt like a lot of people were drawn to spending time in the Everglades to find a sense of community and to commune with nature.
What was it like filming in the Everglades, especially at night?
There’s an alternating sense of wonder and beauty, as well as madness and fear, that comes with spending time out in the Everglades. Sometimes you fear your fellow man more than the unknown creatures out there, and sometimes the bugs and heat are the elements most against you. We wanted to convey, with both sound and lighting, that the nights of the competition are much more exciting, fun, and even psychedelic than the days, which can often feel like hot hangovers.
What’s next for you?
I’m a little superstitious about saying too much, but I plan to shoot my next film in Florida, this time based on a screenplay I’ve written.
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