South African documentary gets Best Documentary Oscar

The South African documentary My Octopus Teacher won the Best Documentary Oscar at the awards ceremony last night. The ceremony took place in Los Angeles, with ‘hubs’ in London and Paris where international nominees could attend without needing to leave their own countries.

The film follows Craig Foster, a filmmaker who spent years following some of the planet’s most dangerous animals. After being burned out by his career, and with his family relationships in turmoil, he decided to put a halt on his career. He reconnected with his roots: the magical underwater world of the kelp forest off the coast of Cape Town.

For nearly a decade, Foster went diving daily in the icy cold waters, ditching wetsuit and scuba rig in one of the most predator-dense places on earth. The common octopus he met and tracked became first his subject, then his teacher, showing him things no human had ever witnessed. Shot over eight years, with 3,000 hours of footage, My Octopus Teacher documents a friendship, interaction and animal intelligence never seen before.

The film was produced by Foster and directed by Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed.

Watch My Octopus Teacher on Netflix: netflix.com/myoctopusteacher