Starting VLC stops the rest of a python script

Question

I am experimenting with different python scripts to run videos and I am encountering a strange error, anytime I start vlc, the rest of the script stops executing.

What am I doing wrong?

import time
import subprocess

subprocess.call(["vlc", "myVideo.mp4", "-f", "-L", "--no-audio", "&"])

print("I never print")

time.sleep(5)
subprocess.call(["killall", "-9", "vlc"])
print("I never print either!")

Answer 1

The list that you pass to the subprocess functions is interpreted as argv for the program. Since shell=False by default, no interpretation is done on the arguments. Specifically, & is passed as the last argument to vlc, and does not start a background process.

To start a background process, call Popen directly. call will always wait for the subprocess to complete, so it's not what you want.