What can a wild octopus teach a person? My Octopus Teacher, a 2020 documentary from South Africa directed by Philippa Ehrlich and James Reed, spends 85 minutes answering that question through one man, Craig Foster, and one animal he meets in the sea.
What is My Octopus Teacher about?
Craig Foster had been swimming every day for years in the freezing ocean at the southern tip of Africa when a young octopus caught his attention with her unusual curiosity. He decided to keep coming back. For months on end he visited her den and followed her movements, learning her routines and letting her get used to his presence in the water. Slowly the animal stopped treating him as a threat. The documentary follows that patient process of earning trust and the bond that grew out of it, a connection between a human being and a wild creature that the film presents as something never seen before.
About the cast
There is no cast in the usual sense. Craig Foster appears as himself and is the only person credited on screen; the story is his, told from his own time in the water. The other lead is the octopus, a wild animal rather than a trained performer. Behind the camera, the directing credit is shared by Philippa Ehrlich and James Reed.
Context & significance
Nature documentaries usually keep the observer out of the frame. This one does the opposite: the person watching is part of the subject, and the film is as much about the daily visits themselves as about octopus behaviour. The Persian catalogue description calls Foster a filmmaker who forms an unusual friendship with an octopus living in a forest beside the South African sea, an animal that ends up sharing the secrets of her world with him. That framing, with the animal as teacher and the human as student, is where the title comes from. Produced in South Africa and released in 2020, the documentary has been very warmly received and stands among the best-regarded nature films in the catalogue. It stays with a single stretch of coast and a single relationship from start to finish.
Watching My Octopus Teacher on Ktime
My Octopus Teacher is on K-Time with a Persian dub, which makes it an easy choice for watching with family members who prefer Farsi narration. The page you are reading is free; to play the documentary, log in to your K-Time account. K-Time is built for Persian-speaking viewers abroad, with a Farsi interface and a catalogue chosen for the Iranian diaspora.