As Californians increasingly live with the lives of wolf, black bear and mountain lion, another new fantasy film reflects the anxiety of many state residents about wildlife approximations.

"The Legend of Ochi" was released in the American Theater on April 25 and streamed from May 20, a tween seeking to return the injured blue-faced baby primate to his home. Twelve-year-old Yuri (Helena Zengel) on the fictional island of Carl Pathia has long been associated with fictional animals (called Ochi). (Her father Maxim, played by Willem Dafoe, is a passionate Ochi-Hater.)

Yuri succumbed to the idea of ​​inheritance that Ochi was a destroyed vicious creature, and found that she had more in common with these creatures than being taught to believe. Healing the bonds between the species also helps her heal the bonds in her own species - the bonds of immediate relatives.

Isaiah Saxon grew up in Aptos, California, wrote and directed the film, and watched it, it was easy to find links to the problems facing Californians today. The state is the world's densest black bear population, with increasing numbers of gray wolves and mountain lions in some areas. Not all residents are happy about it.

From the 1970s, changes in state and federal policy have made large predators come back throughout California. Meanwhile, humans have expanded into wild areas, and climate change can bring animals into people's paths. According to California wildlife officials, an increase in overlap between humans and wild animals has led to an increase in conflict.

Ranchers in rural pockets in the state are afraid of livelihoods because of wolves, and a couple told The Times they hope to be able to shoot some protected canines to teach them a lesson. Siskiyou and Lassen County leaders called on the state to do something about the economic damage wolves have caused to ranchers, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife recently approved more powerful methods of harassment, including beating animals, noise from drones.

California lawmakers have called for a tougher approach to fend off wildlife, which is due to the sensitivity of deadly animal attacks that have been hit by deadly animals. A bill originally intended to allow El Dorado County to drive away mountain lions was passed last month but was instead replaced by a dog loss. Now, this will require the state wildlife department to partially strengthen conflict reduction programs by participating in public advocacy and providing grant funds for measures to protect livestock. A similar bill allows the use of dogs to drive black bears out of the place where the state legislative committee died last month, but was granted a reconsideration, which is an opportunity to vote again next year.

But many Californians believe in another coexistence—a type that often centers on the right of animals to live in their homeland territory.

Speaking to The Times, Saxon said California's wildlife anxiety wasn't aware of his creation of "Ochi Legend" but appeared in the fictional world of his premiere feature film and his hometown in a telephone interview.

Saxony, who grew up in the redwood forests of Santa Cruz County, recalls “continuous fear of mountain lions” in the community he grew up with. There is also a zealous believer, a museum in Sasquatch and Santa Cruz dedicated to mythical creatures.

"If I walked into the woods far enough from our home, then it was Sasquatch or Mountain Lions, or you know, real adventure and a real sense of magic (waiting in the forest). So I think when I came up with this story, I think it was a bit deeper inside me."

On the hills of his hail, Saxon said the community often breaks down into “hippies or countrymen.” The way he describes these terms are the rough term for a more nuanced community divide: “People who want to live with nature, then those who want to use force.”

When he was about 6, he would visit his best friend’s family at a nearby property and he would see them filming the Blue Jays for sports. Then he returned to his vegan home.

Later, he would see the same dichotomy in other parts of California. Saxony moved to Los Angeles about a decade ago until the Eaton Fire destroyed his house and lived in Altadna. Shortly before moving to the Foothills community about two and a half years ago, he heard some of his potential neighbors illegally shot a mountain lion and were accused of slaughtering animals nearby, including all goats on the farm next to his home.

Similar vigilant judicial behaviors make his movie animations. The opening montage includes the bleeding sheep who ostensibly stabbed by Ochi. Sometimes primates bite people when they are afraid. In one scene, Maxim reminds a little boy who tries to elevate skilled hunters into their struggle: their family loses geese, cats, livestock, a sense of security.

Saxon said he knew the urge to retaliate against the animals that caused damage, but ultimately opposed it.

"It's a spiritual choice, not just to remove animals from this situation," he said. "So, I mean, you have to respect the perception and experience of that mountain lion, so that you don't choose to solve this way."

The Saxons say the purpose of the film is not only to advocate not killing wild animals that live near humans. “It’s not just 'Don’t destroy them.'” He said, “We would be better if we learned from them.” ”

During his Saxon childhood, Jane Goodall was one of three agreed patron saints. (The others are the Dalai Lama and the Beatles.) In a recent conversation with Goodall on A24’s podcast, he described his first clip as “a criticism of anthropomorphism.”

The movie reveals that Ochi can do things people can’t do, such as communicating through feelings. They ignore the caricature of red-eyed, bloodthirsty beasts. With ball-like black eyes and blurry, caramel-colored fur, baby ochi (a physical puppet that is compared to both gremlin and yoda) is very cute.

Saxon has given Yuri's parents a polarized view of wildlife. Maxim sees humanity as the right to control the environment. Yuri's mother, Dasha (played by Emily Watson), has been working on studying Ochi's time, but - according to the Saxons, he accepts that nature can sometimes transcend the grasp of human concepts.

Yuri, who whispers and voices, acts as an avatar of the audience, has not yet consolidated her values, but has figured them out for themselves.

“My hope for this movie is that kids can enter the movie as strangely and openly as Yuri and work hard to make their own ideas, rather than letting adults get in the way of what they think is right and real,” Saxon said.

Children’s films featuring animals often enhance the stereotype that predatory animals are inherently evil. For example, consider Disney's classic "Little Mermaid" (1989) or the 2004 DreamWorks movie "Shawks", both of which show the threat of sharks and point to the blog of the UC Davis's graduate student population of animal behavior. Or Disney's "Frozen", starting in 2013, Wolf was pursuing the heroine.

There are exceptions, and it can get messy. The 1994 Disney blockbuster The Lion King takes the Crimson Predator (the nominal lion) as a hero, but he has to change his behavior to eat grubs as part of his hero journey. Meanwhile, the main villain is another lion, who has been keeping the predator.

Amaroq Weiss, a senior wolf advocate at the Biodiversity Center for a nonprofit dedicated to the conservation of endangered animals, believes that positive narratives about predators are key to the increasingly overlap between people and wildlife, driven by human development and climate change.

“For people living in towns and cities, those who now meet their wild neighbors and don’t know about them, it’s an easy way to immediately create a terrible impression,” she said. “What’s more important is that … we do get a message to people as early as possible.”