My Octopus Teacher

2020 1h 25m EN

🙌

7.9

BANGER

★7.9TMDB · 1,092

Documentary

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

After years of swimming every day in the freezing ocean at the tip of Africa, Craig Foster meets an unlikely teacher: a young octopus who displays remarkable curiosity. Visiting her den and tracking her movements for months on end he eventually wins the animal’s trust and they develop a never-before-seen bond between human and wild animal.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Craig Foster
Self
Tom Foster
Self

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: James Reed
Writers: Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed
Languages: English, French
Countries: South Africa, United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

85 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 6 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, French.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: South Africa, United Kingdom.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by James Reed, shot by Roger Horrocks. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Kevin Smuts. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Dan Schwalm shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Craig Foster and Tom Foster carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

James Reed directs. Roger Horrocks behind the camera. Kevin Smuts scores. Dan Schwalm cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in South Africa, United Kingdom. Dialogue in English, French.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

185 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Released 6 years ago.
3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, French.
4International production across 2 countries: South Africa, United Kingdom.
5Directed by James Reed, shot by Roger Horrocks. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Kevin Smuts. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Dan Schwalm shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Craig Foster and Tom Foster carry the top of the cast.
9IMDB entry: tt12888462 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 15 themes, including "diving", "octopus", "intelligence", "atlantic ocean".

The technical file

Cinematography: Roger Horrocks
Original score: Kevin Smuts
Editing: Dan Schwalm
Sound: Barry Donnelly
Runtime: 85 min · 1h 25m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
IMDB: My Octopus Teacher (2020)

Awards

Grierson Awards
Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

James Reed

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Selected frames

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Skarfrael2021-12-29
★ 10/10
Not just a documentary (9 January 2021) Why I watched it? Because I love octopuses and the sea. Why I gave it a 10? Because it was something more than just a documentary. It was a personal experience. It got evident from the start. Great captures and the personal storytelling of Foster along with accurate and calming music did it: I immediately relaxed and put myself in his shoes. The rest was history. Amazing information conveyed along with great scenes and meanings. I liked the format. Most documentaries focusing on animals calm me, but this format was just something else. It was closer to the experience of reading a book for me, and that's something I have never felt before for a movie/series.
candicetop2026-01-04
★ 9/10
a profoundly moving, visually stunning documentary that elevates a simple premise into a transformative emotional experience. It follows South African filmmaker Craig Foster as he returns daily to a cold-water kelp forest near Cape Town, slowly forming an intimate, almost meditative bond with a wild octopus he encounters there. The film’s greatest strength is how it intertwines awe-inspiring natural observation with a deeply personal story of burnout and healing. Foster’s encounters with the octopus become a quiet school of life: through watching her ingenuity, vulnerability and resilience, he rediscovers curiosity, patience and a sense of belonging in the natural world. The creature herself is filmed with astonishing sensitivity, revealing camouflage, hunting strategies and play that feel more like finely choreographed character work than conventional wildlife footage. Cinematically, the documentary is exceptional. The underwater photography turns the kelp forest into a dreamlike cathedral of light and motion, while the editing builds a gentle, narrative rhythm that makes one small cove feel as epic as any global travelogue. What lingers most, though, is the emotional clarity: by the time the octopus’s life cycle nears its end, the viewer feels the weight of that loss as keenly as Foster does, and the film’s quiet plea for empathy and ocean conservation lands with rare sincerity.
CinemaSerf2026-07-24
★ 7/10
I reckon this could be my favourite natural history feature, as despite a slight element of sentimentality, it's really quite fascinating. It all follows the relationship between accomplished diver and photographer Craig Foster and an octopus. He is swimming when he encounters this young creature hiding in it's den. Approaching it, gingerly, he is surprised when it reaches out a tentacle (he calls them arms) and begins to stroke his hand. He can feel the pressure from it's individually controlled suckers but senses there is no danger here, as she appears to sense from him, too. What now follows sees him return, daily, to visit his new friend as she grows, hunts, gets hunted, and ultimately breeds over the better part of the next year. There is a scene where she has an altercation with a shark - from which she does not emerge unscathed, that I found contrasted emotionally quite powerfully with the scenes of her own hunting a poor crab, or lobster. Isn't it odd how we so often take sides when we watch eat or be eaten scenarios play out? We want the octopus to survive unscathed against the shark, but have no qualms about her gobbling up a lobster going about it's own business on the bottom of these colourful and vibrant waters. His narration is sparing, but what we do listen to is increasingly personal as he begins to form an attachment - but what is much more striking is that she seems to reciprocate. She feels no threat as he approaches and it's that very relaxedness that allows us to observe an amazingly adaptable, squash-able and intelligent cephalopod that has no family to teach her the tricks of the survival trade, just as any of her own half million eggs will not receive any from her, as she makes an ultimate sacrifice to ensure they, themselves, can perpetuate their species for an other lifecycle. The underwater photography captures well not just the life of this octopus, but also of it's role within a complex social structure beneath the waves and with some imagery that is really quite difficult to watch - especially at the end; this is a touching look at nature at it's most natural.