Congratulations are pouring in from every corner of the world for My Octopus Teacher, the South African documentary that won a coveted Academy Award for the Best Documentary Feature at a glitzy ceremony hosted on 25 April.
This is the second big award for the documentary, a few weeks ago they won a BAFTA for Best Documentary Feature.
The 93rd Academy Awards was hosted at a train station, in addition to Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre – and did not have a host. The ceremony was delayed for two months due to the pandemic.
Into the depths
The 2020 Netflix original documentary follows filmmaker Craig Foster’s into the depths of Cape Town’s kelp forest where he ignites a relationship with an octopus. Their interaction is documented over a year, until the octopus dies. It details the intimate and unlikely friendship between a sea creature and a human.
The documentary was produced by Craig Foster, directed by Pippa Ehrlich and filmmaker James Reed.
My Octopus Teacher beat out Collective, Crip Camp, The Mole Agent, and Time to walk away with the top award.
You can catch the rebroadcast at 22:30 on M-Net (DStv channel 101) on Monday, 26 April.
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