Wesgro, the official Tourism, Trade, Investment and Film Promotion Agency for Cape Town and the Western Cape congratulates My Octopus Teacher, South Africa’s first ever Netflix original documentary, for winning the Oscar for best documentary at the 93rd Academy Awards.
Due to COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s Oscars were broadcast live from a train station, honouring films few saw in movie theatres and re-uniting Hollywood’s A-listers for the first time in more than a year.
Directed by Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed and Craig Foster, My Octopus Teacher tells the story of an unusual bond between film-maker and diver Craig Foster and a wild octopus he encounters while exploring the icy waters of the Atlantic Ocean in False Bay, Western Cape, South Africa.
My Octopus Teacher has already won a string of festival and critics’ awards, as well as taking both the Bafta and Producers' Guild awards for best documentary, making it a firm favourite for the Oscar. The film beat four other remarkable documentaries, including criminal justice system testimony "Time", disability documentary "Crip Camp", and corruption investigation "Collective".
Wesgro CEO, Tim Harris said: “This is a well-deserved win. Huge congratulations go out to Craig Foster, Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed and the entire team for bringing home the Oscar.”