Grasshopper Republic

Directed by
Daniel McCabe
Duration
94 min.
Year
2023

Filmed over three seasons, Grasshopper Republic follows a local team of verité-style grasshopper trappers, as these modern-day prospectors head deep into remote forests in a bid to make their fortune capturing this elusive prey. We witness huge generators being hoisted onto collapsing mud banks. Light poles are erected with chemically treated bulbs, casting a neon green glow over the canopy, irresistibly luring the swarm to their corrugated iron traps.

With images from another world, these distinct universes collide in an explosion of emotion. The trappers, who have suffered injury, illness and exhaustion, finally have their moment, and relief washes over them. As for the grasshoppers, lured into a trap by an unnatural ruse, their path ends in a frying pan.

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