Messages of congratulations continue to pour in for South African Netflix documentary, My Octopus Teacher, which has won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature 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.

Industry professionals have lauded the team for winning the highest accolade in international film.

The film has bagged a host of other international film awards, and has won over hearts and minds worldwide.

Award-winning film producer, Anant Singh, explains why this award is great for the industry.

“It’s great for the industry because you’ve got a little film which is a documentary that competes in the best and the highest platform of world cinema and that wins in the best Oscar in the documentary category and you know filmmakers are making documentaries from little films on their iphones and this gives them huge inspiration to continue and be passionate about story-telling. Craig has been a passionate story-teller of documentaries and such a wonderful person who does great work and we are very fortunate to have worked with him 8 or 10 years ago.”

Background on the documentary in the video below:

The documentary is a collaboration driven by the Sea Change Project, an NGO which raises awareness of the beauty and ecological importance of South Africa’s kelp forest. The team is proud of the global recognition.

“It’s such a great platform for the work that we’re doing at the sea change project we’ve really focussed on the great African sea forest. Our mission is to continue telling stories about this wonderful ecosystem so it can inspire and create awe in other people to want to protect nature, to want to relate to nature to want to immerse themselves in nature this is what we hope for people to remember that you are wild, that you are nature that this beautiful planet is your home that is really what we were trying to say in the film how wild places and wild animals are precious and that we all belong here,” says Swati Thiyagarajan from the sea Change Project.

In an earlier interview with SABC News, the star of the film – Foster said the Octopus taught him that nature and human beings are woven from the same cloth and thread. And that each needs the other in order to survive on planet Earth.

He reacts to the latest accolade in the video below:

In a congratulatory tweet, President Cyril Ramaphosa says the film has opened a window into the natural beauty and diversity of South Africa’s oceans and marine ecosystems.

Western Cape Premier Alan Winde has also congratulated the team.