The celebrity of the panda bear—a renowned creature of docility and vulnerable health—has been historically leveraged by environmental initiatives worldwide, allowing for a successful diplomatic campaign led by the Chinese government. “Panda Diplomacy" peels back the layers of sentimentality surrounding panda conservation, revealing the unsettling realities that hinder its primary objective: protecting the species from human ambitions.

"Panda Diplomacy" provides the perspective of one family of pandas—parents Lun Lun and Yang Yang, and their 7-year-old offspring, twins Ya Lun, and Xi Lun. They have been summoned to return to China at the end of 2024. The film aims to document the isolation these domesticated pandas face as opposed to their wild counterparts. The dizzying whirlwind of their travels, their fandom, and their history as a political bargaining chip and conservation mascot are juxtaposed with the confinement of the panda’s reality—that of fated captivity. "Panda Diplomacy" captures the lovable, unwitting animals caught in the crossfire of delicate statecraft, questioning whether or not pandas will ever be allowed to exist as just pandas.