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Nuisance Bear 

Play trailer 2:08 Poster for Nuisance Bear  In Theaters Nov 6 1h 30m Documentary Nature Play Trailer Watchlist
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97% Tomatometer 37 Reviews Popcornmeter 0 Verified Ratings
For thousands of years, polar bears have migrated along the shores of Hudson Bay in northern Canada. Today, that ancient rhythm collides with a human world of tourism, surveillance, and control. Nuisance Bear immerses viewers in the experience of a polar bear forced to navigate tourists, wildlife officers, and hunters as climate change delays the freeze and pushes bears closer to human settlements. When a sacred predator is branded a "nuisance," it becomes unclear who truly belongs in this shared landscape. Returning to Churchill, Manitoba--the self-styled "Polar Bear Capital of the World"--filmmakers Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman expand their award-winning short into a feature guided by an Inuit narrator whose perspective resists simplification. Shot with striking intimacy and scale, the film observes bears that are constantly monitored, photographed, and redirected. In tracing this uneasy coexistence, Nuisance Bear becomes a meditation on how humans manage, commodify, and redefine wildlife--overturning the conventions of the nature documentary and reframing animals not as spectacle, but as active agents in a rapidly changing world.
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Cast & Crew

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Gabriela Osio Vanden

Director

Jack Weisman

Director

Will N. Miller

Producer

Michael Code

Producer

Teddy Leifer

Producer

Jack Weisman

Producer

Critics Reviews

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Zachary Barnes Wall Street Journal Mar 17, 2026
The film doubles as a fascinating study of humans’ engagement with their environment, exploring not-always-predictable differences between the approach of the local Inuit population and nonindigenous people with particular ideas about conservation. Go to Full Review Randy Myers San Jose Mercury News Feb 4, 2026
3.5/4
Nuisance Bear defies categorization but offers wise insight through showing not telling. It’s subtle, affecting and unforgettable. Go to Full Review Tim Grierson Screen International Feb 3, 2026
The filmmakers honour a fragile ecosystem by refusing to believe there are easy solutions for its intractable problems. Go to Full Review Rich Cline Shadows on the Wall 6 hrs ago
4/5
This documentary follows a young polar bear through various encounters with humans... Filmmakers Jack Weisman and Gabriela Osio Vanden are actually exploring bigger themes from climate change, to the legacy of colonisation and how culture impacts nature. Go to Full Review Daniel Allen Loud and Clear Reviews 1 day ago
4/5
Nature documentary Nuisance Bear is a fascinating, at times poetic documentary about the fraught coexistence between the human and natural worlds. Go to Full Review Avi Offer NYC Movie Guru 2 days ago
A mesmerizing, provocative, fair and balanced documentary. Nuisance Bear shows the audience many inconvenient truths, but without bombarding them with talking heads, statistics or preachiness. Go to Full Review Read all reviews
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Nuisance Bear 

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Nuisance Bear 

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Movie Info

Synopsis For thousands of years, polar bears have migrated along the shores of Hudson Bay in northern Canada. Today, that ancient rhythm collides with a human world of tourism, surveillance, and control. Nuisance Bear immerses viewers in the experience of a polar bear forced to navigate tourists, wildlife officers, and hunters as climate change delays the freeze and pushes bears closer to human settlements. When a sacred predator is branded a "nuisance," it becomes unclear who truly belongs in this shared landscape. Returning to Churchill, Manitoba--the self-styled "Polar Bear Capital of the World"--filmmakers Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman expand their award-winning short into a feature guided by an Inuit narrator whose perspective resists simplification. Shot with striking intimacy and scale, the film observes bears that are constantly monitored, photographed, and redirected. In tracing this uneasy coexistence, Nuisance Bear becomes a meditation on how humans manage, commodify, and redefine wildlife--overturning the conventions of the nature documentary and reframing animals not as spectacle, but as active agents in a rapidly changing world.
Director
Gabriela Osio Vanden, Jack Weisman
Producer
Will N. Miller, Michael Code, Teddy Leifer, Jack Weisman, Gabriela Osio Vanden
Distributor
MUBI
Production Co
A24
Genre
Documentary, Nature
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Nov 6, 2026, Limited
Runtime
1h 30m
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