My Octopus Teacher Oscar win great boost for South Africa

SSouth Africa has an abundance of marine bio-diversity -  is host to many endemic species and thousands of kilometers of kelp forest - and through My Octopus Teacher, millions of viewers around the world can see just how amazing and how beautiful, South Africa’s unique ocean life is. 

South African excellence was on display at the 93rd Academy Awards in Los Angeles, on 25th April with the acclaimed Netflix documentary, My Octopus Teacher, winning an Oscar in the Best Documentary Feature Category. The nomination came just a few days after SA Tourism’s announcement of its recently engaged in a partnership agreement with Netflix South Africa that focusses on promoting the country through local productions.

The documentary is set in the False Bay area in Cape Town, Western Cape province, and focusses on the intimate relationship between independent film maker, Craig Foster, and an Octopus, coming together in the Atlantic Ocean. The False Bay area in Cape Town is home to the South Africa’s largest Naval Base in Simonstown and also features fishing harbours, beaches, yacht clubs,  coastal nature reserves and the famous Boulders Beach,  home to the gorgeous African penguins. 

According to the consumer study done by South African Tourism and YouGov* last month,  “scenic beauty” is the main reason for considering South Africa according to 73% of respondents, followed by “wildlife and safari” (66%) and “history and culture” (53%). With an abundance of beautiful natural landscapes, vast national parks full of wildlife and secluded rugged coastline South Africa offers an ideal post-pandemic destination, tapping into the growing demand for space and seclusion. The country’s welcoming locals and diverse cultural heritage makes the destination a perfect choice for those seeking human connection, culture and meaningful travel on their post-pandemic holiday. 

PPippa Ehrlich, Film Director

"I feel like I’m in a dream, very excited and very motivated and incredibly grateful that everything has worked out the way it has. It’s very hard to explain you know, we started off with this tiny team really just Craig and I with an edit suite in his attic, but what we did have is one of the most exquisitely beautiful environments on Earth that the world hadn’t really seen before. It’s been an enormous privilege to be able to show that to the world." 

"South Africa’s a very special country from coast to mountain. Cape Town itself is just an incredibly beautiful place also an incredibly diverse place, you have Table Mountain, you have indigenous forest and then you have this wealth marine life where you can see orcas and seals and penguins and whales and dolphins all on the same day and octopuses, massive invertebrate bio-diversity".

KKgomotso Ramothea, Acting Hub Head at South African Tourism for the UK & Ireland:

“We are delighted to see South Africa’s biodiversity being so well showcased in My Octopus Teacher and a huge congratulations to the production team and cast for representing South Africa with such passion and joy. We hope Netflix viewers will enjoy watching the splendour and beauty of our oceans and to agree with  producer, Pippa Ehrlich, when she said the documentary is showing to the world “one of the most exquisitely beautiful environments on Earth that the world hadn’t really seen before””.

We hope that the UK ban on international travel to South Africa is lifted from 17 May. If so, and following a successful vaccine rollout in South Africa which began earlier this month and a continued decline in new COVID-19 cases, we are hopeful that we’ll be able to welcome visitors in time for the South African summer season and look forward to working with the UK travel trade to ensure the success of South Africa’s tourism recovery”.

Note to editors

*Survey Results: All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2,094 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 12th - 15th March 2021. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+).

Online image library: http://digitalassets.southafrica.net/

South African Tourism recently caught up with My Octopus Teacher producer, Pippa Ehrlich. Click on the below links to hear more about this amazing documentary:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbE4Sws773vz3ATosb2T9K8tqBMeRbQkQ

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