| Nuisance Bear | |
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| Narrated by | Mike Tunalaaq Gibbons |
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| Edited by | Andres Landau |
| Music by | Cristobal Tapia de Veer |
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Running time | 90 minutes |
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Nuisance Bear is a 2026 documentary film directed by Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman. It is a feature-length expansion of their 2021 short film of the same name.
The film depicts the relationship between polar bears and humans in Churchill, Manitoba. It premieres in the U.S. Documentary Competition at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize Documentary. [1]
The film takes place in Churchill, Manitoba. It documents the migration of polar bears as they move through the town, which is populated by tourists, wildlife officers, and hunters. An Inuit narrator describes the bears that are monitored, photographed, and redirected by humans.
The film is directed by Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman. They previously directed the 14-minute short film Nuisance Bear (2021). The short film received an honorable mention for the Best Canadian Short Film award at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival, [2] was a nominee for Best Short Documentary at the 10th Canadian Screen Awards, [3] and was named to the shortlist for Best Documentary Short Film at the 95th Academy Awards. [4]
The directors filmed in Churchill for the feature expansion. The film is produced by Michael Code, Will N. Miller, and Teddy Leifer. The score is composed by Cristobal Tapia de Veer.
Nuisance Bear premiered as part of the U.S. Documentary Competition at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2026. [5]