Trapped by Mads Engel
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The Venus flytrap only grows naturally in one place in the world–North Carolina–and ecologists worry that the plant is in danger. In 2014, North Carolina lawmakers made picking the Venus flytrap a felony with a potential prison sentence. While this move was widely praised by conservationists and the media, a local Black community who had depended on the plant for generations found themselves designated criminals overnight. Now, many face a difficult choice: try to get by on a $7.25 minimum wage, or turn to the black market and risk jail time?
Directed by Joe Purtell and Mads Engel with Nina Riggio as Producer and DP
Additional Camera: Ben Bacher, Ryan Lee Lewis (Obscura Films)
Associate Producer: Sam Gilbert
Color: Wes Sheridan
VFX: Owen Campbell
Title Design: Phoebe Morris
Sound Mix: Josh Aude
ADR: Bryan Ricke, Damani Rawlins
Music Supervisor: Maggie Nadeau
Music by Pavel Milyakov and Yana Pavlova
Uploaded 2026-05-26T06:12:06.000Z
