The extraordinary friendship between a man and an octopus is at the heart of the Netflix documentary My Octopus Teacher, acclaimed around the world and awarded at the Oscars. The extraordinary friendship between a man and an octopus is at the heart of the Netflix documentary My Octopus Teacher, acclaimed around the world and awarded at the Oscars.
Who could have imagined that in 2021 the story of a common octopus would conquer not only the hearts of viewers around the world, but even an Oscar? Yet the octopus at the heart of the documentary My Octopus Teacher truly pulled it off, winning a sweeping wave of acclaim and a string of awards: from the British Bafta to the American Pga (awarded by producers), right up to the most prestigious of all: the coveted Academy Award.
The credit belongs, first and foremost, to Craig Foster, a South African filmmaker and naturalist who, with the help of a team of professionals and directors Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed, managed to tell the incredible story of his friendship with the octopus at the centre of the documentary. A bond as extraordinary as it is moving, which came to life in the cold ocean waters off Cape Town, in the magnificent underwater kelp forest. A breathtaking setting, stretching 1,400 kilometres along the coastline, with its extraordinarily rich microcosm of biodiversity. A backdrop that brought to many viewers' minds the 3D documentary Aliens of the Deep, filmed by James Cameron in 2005.
Watching My Octopus Teacher, you are immediately captivated by the beauty of the images, the colours and the landscapes, captured with discretion by the cameras. A result made possible by the great professionalism and techniques deployed by the entire team, which worked hard for years, including to find the right narrative angle for the story. But Foster's passion for the ocean floor goes well beyond a naturalist's interest. And the documentary manages to convey this masterfully, allowing the viewer to follow the protagonist for an hour and a half through a genuinely immersive dive, both physical and spiritual. A unique experience, one that powerfully reminds us how little we know about the creatures that share this planet with us, and how we ourselves are an integral part of nature.
The octopus represents a gateway into deep nature and inspired me, making me realise that I was not merely a visitor in the ocean, but a part of it
Craig Foster
After years of filming some of the planet's most dangerous animals, exploring the relationship between human beings and the wild world (and also the shamanic cultures of the Kalahari), filmmaker Craig Foster is exhausted and on the verge of depression. This sense of disconnection from the world makes him feel inadequate even as a father, and so he decides to take a break from his career and return to his birthplace, Cape Town, in South Africa. There, Foster rediscovers his long-held passion for diving and begins to explore the wonderful underwater world of the kelp forests every day. It is an overwhelming experience, one that leads to an unexpected encounter that will change him forever: a female octopus, who will prove to be an extraordinary friend and help him find balance within himself and reconnect with nature.
The original title My Octopus Teacher effectively conveys the ethical message at the heart of the documentary, which shows how nature, when observed with attentive eyes and an open heart, can become the most extraordinary of teachers. A formative as well as an emotional experience for the protagonist, who finds himself profoundly changed by this unusual bond. It is remarkable to witness the journey of mutual discovery between the two, as strangers gradually become close friends. The most moving scenes in the film are precisely those that capture the octopus's cautious approaches towards Foster: her furtive glances, the first tentative advances, and finally her tentacles stretching out to stroke and even embrace her new friend. A trust built over the course of an entire year, marked by Foster's daily visits in which, armed with nothing but a diving mask and a camera, he follows the cephalopod to discover her habits and learn from her the rules and rituals of the underwater world. A habitat full of surprises, but also of dangers and predators — such as pyjama sharks — that will put the octopus's life at risk while at the same time revealing her remarkable cunning.
From his very first dive, Foster understood that protecting and spreading a message of conservation of the South African underwater forest would become a priority for him. So much so that in 2012 he co-founded the Sea Change Project, a non-profit group dedicated to protecting marine life and raising awareness of the importance of this place. "We would like to turn the South African underwater forest into a global icon. It seems to us that this is a way to protect such a special place," Foster explains today, riding the wave of popularity the film has gained through its release on Netflix and its turn in the spotlight at the Oscars.
By diving into the icy ocean waters and exploring the underwater forest, Foster became a kind of self-taught scientist. To help him in this endeavour, however, he also enlisted emeritus professor Charles L. Griffiths of the Department of Marine Biology at the University of Cape Town and Dr Jannes Landschoff, with whom he was able to identify, classify and compare all the animals and behaviours he was observing. A two-way collaboration, in that Foster's fieldwork allowed the researchers to gather valuable first-hand information about the ecosystem.
Foster's friendship with the octopus dates back roughly ten years and lasted just one year (the lifespan of these animals is around 18 months). During that period, the protagonist, feeling the need to reconnect with nature, had decided to dive every day without a wetsuit or any other diving gear into the freezing waters off the South African coast. A way of truly feeling part of that world and of being able to move more freely among the crevices and seaweed of the kelp forest. This ritual continued for eight years, during which a total of 3,000 hours of footage were recorded.
Initially, Foster dived alone, resting the camera on the seabed so he could film his interactions with the octopus. The experience then proved so extraordinary that it prompted him to involve other people in the project. First among them his old friend Roger Horrocks, an award-winning cameraman, with whom Foster spent hundreds of hours underwater, also creating a television series for the BBC Blue Planet II programme.
But Foster's true desire was to make a documentary film capable of conveying the power and beauty of his underwater experience. From this came his idea of first bringing in director Pippa Ehrlich, a skilled storyteller and journalist specialising in marine conservation, and subsequently director James Reed, a celebrated and award-winning filmmaker from Bristol who was entrusted with the interview sequences featuring Foster himself, which run throughout the documentary.
To complete the picture, Craig's son Tom was also brought on board; in addition to playing an important role in the documentary's narrative, he was responsible for the aerial sequences filmed with a drone. Finally, another fundamental contribution came from Professor Jennifer Mather of the University of Lethbridge in Canada. An "octopus psychologist" whose specialist knowledge allowed the filmmakers to tell the story authentically, explaining the cephalopod's behaviour in a scientific manner.
My Octopus Teacher is just one of the environmentally themed titles distributed by Netflix which, on the occasion of the recent World Earth Day, clearly expressed its commitment to sustainability. The streaming platform announced its Zero Emissions + Nature project, with the aim of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by the end of 2022 and maintaining that target in subsequent years. This commitment is accompanied by another significant figure: in 2020, as many as 160 million households around the world chose to watch on Netflix "at least one film or series that helped viewers better understand environmental issues", as reported by the network. From the British natural history documentary series Our Planet, to the documentary series David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet (awarded two Emmys and many other prizes). From the fascinating Night on Earth, which captured never-before-revealed secrets of wild fauna and flora, to Dancing with Birds, Absurd Planet, Chasing Coral and Tiny Creatures. And it was on the occasion of World Earth Day, last 22 April, that David Attenborough: A Life in Colour also made its Netflix debut — the documentary series that lets us see the world through the eyes of animals. Precious and enriching experiences, for discovering distant places and learning to look at the world from new perspectives. Just as happened to Craig Foster, as he dived into the extraordinary ecosystem of the South African underwater forest.