Two giant pandas, Fu Ni and Wang Wang, are trapped in captivity at Adelaide Zoo, staring down the ultimate ticking clock: Fu Ni’s three-day mating window. Zookeeper Trev and ranger Hayley are on high alert, praying these bamboo-loving divas finally produce the cubs everyone’s been waiting for. But will Fu Ni embrace motherhood or reject Wang Wang for the elusive, commitment-phobic male nature has said he is? In
The Pandas of the Adelaide Zoo, Ryan Smith turns a true story into a whimsical, slightly tragic comedy of errors, where these pandas’ romantic misadventures are as endearing as they are exasperating.
Smith’s script tells two stories in parallel. One follows Wang Wang (Smith) and Fu Ni (Elizabeth Harvey) as they pass their hours, days, and years within the zoo, relying on nothing but each other for company. The second traces Trev and Hayley (Jake McNamara and Charli Lewis) as they record an episode of
Totally Wilderness, observing the pandas, with each person bringing their own intentions, curiosities, and emotions to the encounter.
