Environment, Forestry, and Fisheries Minister Barbara Creecy has congratulated producers and directors of the South African Netflix documentary, My Octopus Teacher, which won the Oscar for Best Documentary at the 93rd Academy Awards Ceremony in Los Angeles.
The 2020 Netflix original by Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed, documents a year spent by filmmaker Craig Foster, who forges a relationship with a wild, common octopus in a South African kelp forest in False Bay Cape Town.
“My heartfelt congratulations to the producers and team involved in the making of My Octopus Teacher. You have made South Africa proud,” said Creecy.
“At a time when more and more people are focusing on the health of the oceans, the documentary raises awareness about the role kelp forests play in the ocean environment, the abundance and fragility of the marine environment and the need for a healthy marine environment to sustain a diversity of species.”
The department said the ocean makes up a little more than 70% of the earth’s surface, and South Africa has one of the longest coastlines in the world.
“In April 2019 South Africa Declared twenty marine protected areas covering five percent of our oceans,” said Creecy.
My Octopus Teacher recently received the BAFTA award for best documentary and recognition from the Producers Guild of America for Best Documentary Motion Picture.
- Inside Politics
