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Nuisance Bear 

Play trailer Nuisance Bear  2026 1h 30m Documentary Nature Play Trailer Watchlist
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97% Tomatometer 33 Reviews Popcornmeter 0 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.

Critics Reviews

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Zachary Barnes Wall Street Journal Mar 17
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
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
The filmmakers honour a fragile ecosystem by refusing to believe there are easy solutions for its intractable problems. Go to Full Review Marissa Hill Shade Studios Mar 28
I went in expecting mostly beautiful bear footage, like on National Geographic but this doc ended up being more eye-opening than I anticipated. Go to Full Review Abby Olcese The Pitch Mar 12
In circling these different perspectives without drawing a clear judgment, the movie loses some efficacy. Stretching out other perspectives beyond Gibbons’ story dilutes what is clearly the heart of the film. Go to Full Review Sarah Manvel Movies We Texted About Mar 4
The way Canada is reckoning with its shameful history towards its indigenous citizens is not a minute before time, and it’s impressive that everyone involved in Nuisance Bear understood the significance of both this story and its metaphor. Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Cast & Crew

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Gabriela Osio Vanden

Director

Jack Weisman

Director

Michael Code

Producer

Will N. Miller

Producer

Teddy Leifer

Producer
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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
Michael Code, Will N. Miller, Teddy Leifer
Production Co
A24
Genre
Documentary, Nature
Original Language
English
Runtime
1h 30m