South Africa will be represented at the 93rd Oscar, this Sunday, April 25, in Los Angeles. The movie “The Octopus Wisdom” [My Octopus teacher en VO] competes for the Oscar for Best Documentary, having won twenty trophies including Bafta, in the same category in London on 11 April.
as reported from Johannesburg, Romain Song
The film tells the story of the relationship that developed between a snorkel diver and an octopus in Cape Bay. It is available on Netflix, which is producing its first original documentary in South Africa. Since its release in September 2020, this documentary has enjoyed growing success. This is the culmination of a shoot that started in 2015.
Not all treasures take the same form at the bottom of the sea. For Craig Foster, a free diver, exposed to depression after a burnout, it’s an octopus that changed his life.
With no budget or special ambition, Craig Foster spent a year underwater documenting the behavior of his octopus friend. He then called the camera to Roger Horrocks, an underwater film specialist, and director Pippa Ehrlich, who talks about the project’s origins.
Craig filmed all alone with a small handheld camera for a long time, but from one moment he witnessed things he could hardly believe. It made him very enthusiastic. He called Roger Horrocks and said, you have to come and see what this octopus can do. She lets me watch her hunt and do a lot of other things. “
Three thousand hours of film and six years later, the film could well win the Oscar for best documentary after a first harvest of awards. It took an octopus to receive so many trophies.
Another African film in competition at the Oscars, L’Homme
with our correspondent in Los Angeles, Loïc Pialat
Steven Soderbergh is one of Hollywood’s most inventive directors and he promised a ceremony that would resemble the film more than the TV show. While no one knows exactly what that means, we expect fresh air to blow over an Oscar ceremony whose audience continues to drop.
The approximately 200 guests, 15 times fewer than usual, meet at Union Station, Los Angeles’ fantastic train station, for example, rather than in the traditional Dolby Theater. To avoid the problems that have ruined other awards this year, the Oscars have favored a personal presence rather than video conferencing in pajamas from his living room. Those who have not managed to get to the United States will go via a satellite link. The nominees, all tested three times, do not have to wear a mask in the air but have to put them on again under the many advertising pages.
However, one thing has not changed: the duration of the ceremony, about three hours …
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