Swati Thiyagarajan on My Octopus Teacher: Past year’s context makes film relevant

A still from the documentary

It was 2 am in Cape Town where Indian environmental journalist Swati Thiyagarajan lives with filmmaker-husband Craig Foster when the win was announced. "We created quite a racket. I bet all our neighbours woke up," laughs Thiyagarajan, as we get on a call with her, hours after My Octopus Teacher won the Best Documentary Feature at the 93rd Academy Awards. While Foster served as a producer, Thiyagarajan - who has previously authored Born Wild: Journey into the Wild Hearts of India and Africa - was the production manager on the project helmed by Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed. "In the run-up to the Oscars, we didn't feature on anyone's predictions. The fact that we were nominated stunned us silly. We weren't arrogant enough to presume a win. It was a local story, but when the film [was acquired by] Netflix, [it caught] the world's attention," she says.

Directors Ehrlich and Reed at the Oscars. Pic/AFP

The wins at the Oscars, and the BAFTAs earlier this month are probably the perfect culmination to Foster's journey that started in 2010 when he began free-diving in an underwater kelp forest in False Bay near Cape Town. Through the Netflix feature, the filmmaker-naturalist documented how he forged a relationship with a wild common octopus over a year. Thiyagarajan believes the story resonated with viewers as the pandemic has triggered a perspective shift towards the environment. "After a year like 2020, you can't take away the context in which a film releases. Our [feature] is about empathy and a beautiful world. The pandemic stems from the destruction of nature's biodiversity. The past year's context makes the film more relevant," she says, before heaping praise on Time, another Oscar-nominated documentary that follows Sibil Fox Richardson as she fights for the release of her husband who is serving a prison sentence for a bank robbery. "It was relevant because of the Black Lives Matter movement, and then Derek [Chauvin, police officer] was adjudged guilty."

Swati Thiyagarajan. Pic/Facebook

For her, the win proves that a well-told story will find its audience, no matter the obstacles. "We didn't have a studio as a crutch. Influencers and activists made the film a talking point."