Two South African filmmakers, Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed, scooped the coveted Oscar award for Best Documentary Feature Film, “My Octopus Teacher”, during a ceremony held in Los Angeles on Sunday night.
The documentary chronicles events in a year that another filmmaker, Craig Foster, spent forging a relationship with “a wild, common octopus” in a South African underwater kelp (algae) forest in False Bay near Cape Town.
“This (Oscar award) is an important milestone, as it will encourage further investments, skills transfer and collaboration in South Africa’s film industry,” Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa said on Monday as he congratulated his compatriots.
The documentary is about how Foster forged an unusual friendship with an octopus living in a South African kelp forest, learning as the animal shares the mysteries of her world.
Reed and Ehrlich accepted the honour at the 93rd Academy Awards ceremony at Los Angeles’ iconic Union Railway Station.
“In many ways, this really is a tiny personal story that played out in a sea forest at the very tip of Africa. But on a more universal level, I hope that it provided a glimpse of different types of relationships between human beings and the natural world,” Reed said.
Reed thanked the Los Angeles Film Academy who sponsor the awards for its support, saying the accolade was an honour to the South Africa filmmakers and Foster.
“I want to give a final extra thank you for Craig who, while it was such an enormous team making this film in the end, it began and ended with him.
“And it’s his story and he kind of showed us that if a man can kind of form a friendship with an octopus, it does sort of make you wonder what else is possible. So, thank you Craig. And cheers to everyone.”
South Africa has won previous Oscar awards in Hollywood, notably the Oscar award granted to “Tsotsi” as the Best Foreign Language feature film of 2006.
NM/jn/APA