Gothamist

A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.

Gothamist

WNYC Listen Live

Donate

 

 

Arts & Entertainment

Flaco the Owl documentary to host free premiere in Central Park

By

Hannah Frishberg

Published May 29, 2026

Share

FacebookTwitterRedditEmail

Never miss a story

 Email address

By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .

Flaco the owl near a pet case with a crowd assembled behind yellow police tape.

Benny Polatseck, courtesy of Sandbox Films.

By

Hannah Frishberg

Published May 29, 2026

Share

FacebookTwitterRedditEmail

We rely on your support to make local news available to all

Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

“Wild Inside,” a new documentary about Flaco the owl, is having a free world premiere screening in Central Park this July 29.

Flaco, an enormous Eurasian eagle-owl, famously broke out of the Central Park Zoo in February 2023, after a still unknown vandal damaged his mesh enclosure.

A subsequent owl-hunt was unsuccessful, and Flaco soon became a beloved icon of self-reliance, living in the wilds of New York City, only to fall prey to rat poison and pigeon herpes a year after his escape.

He’s since been memorialized in multiple books, an exhibition, tattoos, untold quantities of Flaco-branded merch, and now a documentary by the director Penny Lane. A trailer for it was released on Wednesday.

In a phone interview with Gothamist last year, Lane said the film would attempt to capture Flaco’s whole year on the lamb carefully, “and then also investigate what happened before he was [in New York], learn about his family tree, learn about zoo ethics, learn about Eurasian eagle-owls, so it’s not just the story of Flaco, but the story of all the different questions and avenues that his story opened up.”

After its Central Park screening, “Wild Inside” will then open at Manhattan’s IFC Center on July 31 and play at select theaters nationwide, including showings on International Owl Awareness Day on Aug. 4.

Tagged

film

manhattan

Hannah Frishberg

Hannah Frishberg covers New York City arts and culture. Got a tip? Email Hannah at [email protected].

Read more

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

MORE arts-entertainment

What's happening at New York's libraries this August

N.K. Jemison leads a workshop in the Bronx and more.

By

Alec Hamilton

Published Jul 28, 2026

Brooklyn’s smallest – and strangest? – art history museum is hidden in plain sight

Visit the Salvator Mundi Museum in Carroll Gardens — it won't take long.

By

Hannah Frishberg

Arts & Entertainment

Brooklyn’s smallest – and strangest? – art history museum is hidden in plain sight

Visit the Salvator Mundi Museum in Carroll Gardens — it won't take long.

By

Hannah Frishberg

Sitcoms from the 1990s made NYC apartments seem huge. The truth is coming out.

By

Sonia Rao

Battle of the beaches: The Jersey Shore vs. Long Island

By

Elizabeth Shwe

Did you know you can row for free on the Harlem River?

By

Lindsay Lee Wallace

Never miss a story

Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.

Sign upEmail address

By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .