My Octopus Teacher (2020)
My Octopus Teacher follows Craig Foster’s building fascination and relationship with a wild common octopus in a South African Kelp Forest. The documentary captures the octopus’s life over the span of a year in which it starts to trust and bond with Foster, allowing him to understand how she sleeps, eats, defends herself and regenerates. Foster changed from being an outsider to the natural world to venturing inside it; following the ‘subtle science in nature’ becoming accustomed and familiar to the kelp forest to track and read the ocean floor. The documentary shows how persistence and fascination with one subject can reveal new characteristics and animal behaviours revealing the complex life of one of the smartest animals. The story narrative is captivating as it shows a friendship forming between human and mollusc. The documentary is as emotive as scientific, revealing behaviour traits such as holding shells as protection and disguise, regenerating limbs and using up all her energy through the production of offspring. It shows how human-animal relations can render appreciation and education.
‘It took going in every day to really get to know her environment better.’ ‘Here’s a highly antisocial animal playing with fish.’
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