On February 2, 2023, Flaco — a male Eurasian eagle-owl, the largest species of owl in the world — was discovered missing from his cage at the Central Park Zoo in Manhattan. What follows when Flaco, who had lived his entire life in captivity, was released in New York City is a surprising story revealing the delight, concern, and fascination of millions in the city and beyond.

For one remarkable year, a captive-born owl became one of New York City’s most unlikely celebrities. In Wild Inside, director Penny Lane follows Flaco, a male Eurasian eagle-owl who escaped from the Central Park Zoo into the city in 2023 and captivated New Yorkers and, eventually, audiences around the world.

Lane traces the extraordinary bond that formed between the owl and those watching from below as Flaco learned to navigate Manhattan with no experience of life in the wild. But beneath the affection and fascination lie provocative questions about power, captivity, and what freedom looks like when the boundaries between wild and domesticated, captive and free, begin to blur. Who, exactly, is captive?

With warmth, wit, and curiosity, Lane transforms an extraordinary true story into a meditation on freedom, captivity, and our complicated relationship with the natural world. -PLANET IN FOCUS