By Jessica Domel
Multimedia Reporter

From the mysterious blind catfish to endangered ocelots and the elusive mountain lion, the new film Deep in the Heart celebrates the wildlife and landscapes that help make Texas unique.

The family-friendly film, directed by Texan Ben Masters, is in theaters now.

“Deep in the Heart is a three-year film that myself and my team made that’s similar in style to Planet Earth but based entirely in Texas. Instead of David Attenborough and his British voice telling you about the lions killing the wildebeest in East Africa, we’ve got Matthew McConaughey telling you about Bracken Cave, ocelots and all these really amazing wildlife species that we have in our state,” Masters told the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network.

Deep in the Heart, Texas’ first wildlife film, gives audiences an opportunity to observe animals and behaviors not often seen.

“It’s a love letter to Texas in a sense, and it’s just this visual journey across the state, seeing these different animals doing their thing in these really cool habitats,” Masters said.

The film aims to conserve Texas’ wild places, show the connectivity of water and wildlife and to recognize the importance of conservation in Texas on a continental scale.

“There are some direct calls to action in the film. One of them is the ocelots. We’ve got 80 ocelots in the entire state, which is our most beautiful cat, and it’s found nowhere else. There’s a lot more we could be doing with the ocelot to help them out,” Masters said.

Filming the ocelots took about nine months because they’re so rare, but Masters said the outcome was rewarding.

“Nobody’s ever filmed them before, so we just kind of had to figure it all out,” Masters said. “Once we did get them dialed in, we were able to get this beautiful sequence with a mom raising her kittens. It’s just really cool to get to see these sights that nobody’s ever gotten to see before.”

While working on Deep in the Heart, Masters filmed on different ranches and some farms in the Panhandle and other areas of the state. He said they’ve seen first-hand the important role landowners, farmers and ranchers play in wildlife and habitat conservation.

“One of the trends that I saw across the state was how much love and passion different landowners and ranchers put into their place, the improvements they put into it, and a lot of the sacrifices they make in order to have good wildlife and wildlife habitat,” Masters said. “As a person who loves wildlife, I’d just like to say, thank you for doing that.”

The ocelot sequence featured in Deep in the Heart was filmed on a working cattle ranch.

“I thought that was really cool that a working ranch had done such a good job of conserving [the ocelots’] habitat that it has the largest population of our most beautiful cat in the United States,” Masters said. “To all the guys and ladies out there that work on land and make room for wildlife and improve the habitat, thank you.”

A list of theaters playing Deep in the Heart is available at www.deepintheheartwildlife.com/watch.

The film will be available to stream on Apple TV, Amazon Prime and Google Play July 18.

Physical DVD, UHD and Blu-ray copies of the film, and the associated book, can be ordered at shop.deepintheheartwildlife.com. T-shirts and caps are also available.