Logline

Antivenom was born in the same scientific revolution that helped establish vaccines, antitoxins, and modern immunology — then remained anchored for more than a century to the same basic production model: animal-derived antibodies. The Antivenom Interviews follows this lifesaving technology from Pasteur-era serum therapy to the modern snakebite crisis, and to the breakthroughs that may finally reshape treatment for the next century.

Synopsis

The Antivenom Interviews (target: Q4 2028) will be a sequel to The Venom Interviews (2016).

Venomous snakebite occupies an important but often overlooked place in the history of toxicology, immunology, emergency medicine, and public health. The first antivenoms — sera from hyperimmunized animals — emerged through the work of figures such as Césaire Phisalix, Albert Calmette, Vital Brazil, and others, who built on the scientific foundations shaped by Pasteur’s discoveries. Yet, despite the efforts of a small number of dedicated researchers, snakebite remained largely neglected, while infectious diseases went on to dominate global health research and funding. Its recognition in 2017 by the World Health Organization as a neglected tropical disease reflects not only the scale of the problem, but how long its impact was underestimated. Today, millions of people are bitten each year, an estimated 140,000 or more are killed, and hundreds of thousands more survive only to face disability, disfigurement, and lost livelihoods. The burden falls most heavily on people with the least access to care.

The Antivenom Interviews will be a feature-length documentary exploring the past, present, and future of snakebite, from the origins of antivenom to the modern realities of treatment around the world. It will discuss the biochemistry of venoms, the diversity of their toxins, the molecular and cellular mechanisms by which those toxins act, the clinical syndromes they produce, and the difficult decisions faced by clinicians and healthcare systems responding to envenomation.

The film will explore the gap between scientific knowledge and real-world outcomes. In some regions, highly venomous snakes occur alongside well-developed healthcare systems, resulting in relatively few fatalities. In others, bites that might be survivable with timely treatment still lead to devastating morbidity and mortality. The Antivenom Interviews will explore the factors that determine whether a bite becomes a manageable medical emergency or a catastrophe: geography, poverty, transport, training, supply chains, antivenom availability, and the wider structure of healthcare itself.

Crucially, it will also document a field in transition. Although antivenoms have improved in many ways, the basic model of antivenom production still rests on a century-old principle: immunize large animals, collect antibodies, and purify them for human use. That is beginning to change.

Advances in analytical technology are rapidly changing what scientists can see and understand about venoms. Methods such as mass spectrometry, venom-gland transcriptomics, proteogenomics, antivenomics, toxicovenomics, structural biology, and high-throughput functional assays are making it faster and cheaper to identify venom components, compare venoms across species and populations, connect specific toxins to their mechanisms of action, and determine which toxins matter most clinically. At the same time, emerging innovations in antibody discovery, engineering, and production have the potential to reduce or even eliminate reliance on livestock for antivenom development, while new small-molecule, broad-spectrum toxin inhibitors, such as varespladib and marimastat, may radically improve early intervention. Better epidemiology, stronger surveillance, improved clinical training, and public outreach are also changing how the burden of snakebite is measured, understood, and addressed. Through interviews with clinicians, researchers, toxinologists, manufacturers, historians, and public health experts, the film will examine the current state of the problem and the emerging innovations that promise to transform the field.

Development

The project is in early pre-production, with remaining principal photography planned for 2027 and post-production and release targeted for 2028. Substantial filming has already been completed in Mexico, Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Guinea. The remaining filming will take place in Costa Rica, Brazil, Denmark, France, the UK, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia, Nigeria, South Africa, India, and throughout the US.

The project is seeking investment to complete production and post-production.