My Octopus Teacher

My Octopus Teacher follows Craig Foster, a filmmaker living in South Africa who has spent years free-diving in the cold waters off the southern tip of the continent. During those daily swims he encounters a young octopus in a kelp forest and begins visiting her den, gradually gaining her trust. Over months of tracking her movements, the two form a close cross-species bond, and the film observes how the animal's intelligence and ingenuity come through in the underwater environment she inhabits. Craig Foster appears on screen himself, alongside Tom Foster.

James Reed and Philippa Ehrlich directed and co-wrote the documentary, which was produced by Craig Foster. It is the earliest of three features listed for Reed, followed by Shark Whisperer and A Gorilla Story: Told by David Attenborough, and the earliest of three for Ehrlich, followed by My Mercury and Pangolin: Kulu's Journey. The film runs eighty-five minutes and was made in the United Kingdom and South Africa by The Sea Change Project and Off the Fence.

On IMDb it holds a rating of 8.1 from around seventy-one thousand votes, and on TMDB a rating of 7.9 from roughly a thousand votes, indicating broad approval from viewers. A critics' rating of 7.7 from forty-three reviews places professional assessments slightly below the audience scores.