South African Netflix documentary, My Octopus Teacher, takes home award for Best Documentary at the British Academy Film Awards.
The British Academy Film Awards (Bafta) took place at the Royal Albert Hall in London and was broadcast without an audience due to COVID-19 restrictions. The South African documentary My Octopus Teacher took home one of the top prizes.
The South African 2020 Netflix Original won Best Documentary and director Pippa Ehrlich was delighted to accept the award showing gratitude to the BAFTAs and the people she worked with in creating the magical film – her team.
The documentary film was produced by South African filmmaker Craig Foster for online streaming platform Netflix. The film documents the relationship between filmmaker Craig Foster and his octopus friend who he encounters while freediving in the Atlantic Ocean.
The City of Cape Town’s Mayor Dan Plato, congratulated the team behind the making of the film on their win, saying: “As mayor of this beautiful city, it gives me great joy to see our residents promoting our city, and doing so on such important topics such as marine conservation.” Going on to note that the documentary showcased “the vast underwater world and marine life” of the city.
The documentary made top ten watched documentaries on Netflix in Israel, South Africa and Australia.
The film has also been nominated for an Academy Award which will be taking place later in April.