SA film My Octopus Teacher wins Best Documentary at the 2021 Baftas

12 Apr 2021

The critically acclaimed South African documentary, My Octopus Teacher won in the Best Documentary category at the British Academy Film Awards held in London, last night, 11 April 2021.

The EE Baftas took place the weekend of 10 and 11 April 2021 and were hosted virtually and broadcast from London’s Royal Albert Hall with winners accepting awards remotely.

The Best Documentary category included nominations for Collective by Alexander Nanau, David Attenborough: A Life On Our Plant by Alastair Fothergill, Jonnie Hughes and Keith Scholey, The Dissident by Bryan Fogel, Thor Halvorssen, Mark Monroe and Jake Swantko and The Social Dilemma by Jeff Orlowski, Larissa Rhodes.

All the winners from the Baftas 2021

12 Apr 2021

The 2020 Netflix original feature, directed by Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed, was filmed off the coastline in Simon's Town, Cape Town and follows the unlikely story of unusual and touching friendship that develops between film maker Craig Foster and an octopus.

My Octopus Teacher has already received two awards at the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards (CCDA), the Grand Teton Award at the Jackson Wild Media Awards and the Best Feature Film award at the EarthX film festival. And is also nominated in the Documentary Feature category for the 93rd Academy Awards. The Oscar awards ceremony will be held later this month on 26 April.