Craig Foster (filmmaker)

Craig Foster
black-and-white close-up image of Craig Foster wearing a scuba mask
Photo of Craig Foster taken by an octopus in 2024
NationalitySouth African
Occupation(s)Documentary filmmaker, naturalist
Known forMy Octopus Teacher
SpouseSwati Thiyagarajan
Children1

Craig Foster is a South African documentary filmmaker, naturalist, and founder of the Sea Change Project. He is known for the 2020 film My Octopus Teacher, for which he won an Academy Award in 2021.

Career

In 2012, Foster co-founded the Sea Change Project, a nonprofit group to protect marine life and raise awareness of the importance of the kelp forest in South Africa.[1][2]

When making The Great Dance: A Hunter's Story (2000) and My Hunter's Heart (2010),[3] he learned some of the animal tracking techniques from the San people of the Kalahari Desert.[4]

My Octopus Teacher

Main article: My Octopus Teacher

Foster was the subject, producer,[2] and photographer of a 2020 Netflix Original film called My Octopus Teacher, directed by Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed.[5][6] The movie is about his experience diving in the kelp forests at a remote location in False Bay, near Cape Town, in the Western Cape of South Africa.[7] During that time, he found a common octopus who began to trust him, and he revisited and filmed her every day for that year.[8] Foster started filming in 2010 and the project was ten years in the making. It was the first Netflix Original South African nature documentary.[1]

Underwater footage not shown in the movie but filmed by the same team, at the same location, and about the same subject, had been shown previously on Blue Planet II, episode 5.[4][9]

Recognition

During the course of his underwater tracking, Foster discovered eight new species of shrimp. One of them, Heteromysis fosteri, was named after him.[4][10]

Personal life

Foster is married to Indian documentary filmmaker and environmental journalist Swati Thiyagarajan. He has a son, Tom, by his former wife.[11][12]

Publications

In 2021, Foster co-authored the book Underwater Wild with Ross Frylinck.[13][4]

In 2024, he published Amphibious Soul: Finding the Wild in a Tame World.[14]

Awards and nominations

Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result Ref.
Academy Awards 25 April 2021 Best Documentary Feature – My Octopus Teacher Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed, and Craig Foster Won [15]
British Academy Film Awards 11 April 2021 Best Documentary – My Octopus Teacher Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed, and Craig Foster Won [16][17]
Critics' Choice Documentary Awards 16 November 2020 Best Narration – My Octopus Teacher Craig Foster Nominated [18]
International Documentary Association Awards 16 January 2021 Pare Lorentz Award – My Octopus Teacher Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed, and Craig Foster Won [19]
Producers Guild of America Awards 24 March 2021 Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures – My Octopus Teacher Craig Foster Won [20]

Selected filmography

Foster's film projects include:[21][3]

  • The Great Dance: A Hunter's Story (2000, director)
  • Africa Unbottled (2001, director)
  • Cosmic Africa (2003, director)
  • My Hunter's Heart (2010, director)
  • Into the Dragon's Lair (2010, cinematographer)
  • Wild Walk (2010 television series, director)
  • The Animal Communicator (2012, director, producer)
  • Touching the Dragon (2013, director)
  • Dragons Feast (2014 television documentary film, director)
  • My Octopus Teacher (2020, producer,[2] cinematographer, subject)

References

  1. ^ a b Stark, Vicky. "'Octopus Teacher' Lets Filmmaker into Secret World". Voice of America – English. Archived from the original on 4 February 2021. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  2. ^ a b c "Projects". Sea Change Project. Archived from the original on 2 February 2021. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  3. ^ a b Craig Foster at IMDb
  4. ^ a b c d Allie, Mohammed (4 November 2018). "'How I became friends with an octopus'". BBC News. Archived from the original on 19 April 2021. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  5. ^ Jeffs, Kathryn. "Filming the octopus Houdini in South Africa". Archived from the original on 6 March 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  6. ^ "Filmmaker Craig Foster Talks About My Octopus Teacher on Fresh Air". Northern California Public Media. Archived from the original on 18 October 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  7. ^ InterNewsCast (19 September 2020). "Where was 'My Octopus Teacher' on Netflix Filmed?". Internewscast. Archived from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  8. ^ Foster, Craig. "Filmmaker Finds an Unlikely Underwater Friend in 'My Octopus Teacher'". NPR.org. Archived from the original on 17 October 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  9. ^ Kathryn Jeffs. "Filming the octopus Houdini in South Africa". BBC. Archived from the original on 24 November 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  10. ^ Wittmann, Karl J.; Griffiths, Charles L. (13 July 2017). "Three new species of Heteromysis (Mysida, Mysidae, Heteromysini) from the Cape Peninsula, South Africa, with first documentation of a mysid-cephalopod association". ZooKeys (685): 15–47. doi:10.3897/zookeys.685.13890. PMC 5646659. PMID 29089836.
  11. ^ Pomarico, Nicole (7 September 2020). "Meet Swati Thiyagarajan, Wife of 'My Octopus Teacher' Star Craig Foster". YourTango. Archived from the original on 8 September 2020. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  12. ^ Rego, Anoushka (7 September 2020). "Craig Foster, My Octopus Teacher: Is He Married? Who Is Craig Foster's Wife?". The Cinemaholic. Archived from the original on 22 September 2020. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  13. ^ "Underwater Wild". seachangeproject.com. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  14. ^ "Amphibious Soul: Finding the wild in a tame world". HarperCollins Publishers UK. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  15. ^ "Documentary Feature Oscar Nominations 2021". American Broadcasting Company. 15 March 2021. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  16. ^ "2021 EE British Academy Film Awards: The Nominations". BAFTA. 9 March 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  17. ^ Watch: The moment SA's 'My Octopus Teacher' wins a BAFTA (video)|The South African
  18. ^ Thompson, Anne (26 October 2020). "'Crip Camp,' 'Gunda,' and 'Mr. Soul!' Lead Critics Choice Documentary Awards Nominations". IndieWire. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  19. ^ "36th Annual IDA Documentary Awards". International Documentary Association. 16 January 2021. Archived from the original on 21 January 2021. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  20. ^ Tangcay, Jazz (2 February 2021). "'Truffle Hunters,' 'Time' and 'Dick Johnson Is Dead' Among Producers Guild Doc Nominations". Variety. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  21. ^ Fogarty, Paul (16 September 2020). "Who is Craig Foster? The human star of My Octopus Teacher has left fans in tears". HITC. Archived from the original on 26 September 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2020.