Over 100 years ago, Vital Brazil, medical doctor and one of Brazil`s most prominent scientists, founded the Butantan Institute in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Brazil`s Butantan is a documentary film that describes the creation and history of the Institute as told by his descendants and institute officials. The film also describes the cultural, recreational, scientific and production activities it performs, starting with someone who has suffered a snake bite accident showing the process to obtain the antidote, from venom extraction from snakes, spiders and scorpions through to the final product.
It also describes a trip to Isla Queimada Grande, an island, located in the Atlantic Ocean, about 35 km away from the Paulista coast, accompanying a group of Institute’s biologists who study the behavior of Bothrops Insularis, or Golden Spearhead, a snake endemic in this island, included in the list of animals with risk of extinction.
