GABRIELA OSIO VANDEN, JACK WEISMAN | USA, CANADA, UK | 2026 | 90 MIN | ENGLISH, INUKTITUT
Tourism, climate change, and human hubris complicate the ancient migration of a young polar bear, exposing the consequences of trying to control the wild rather than respect it in this beautifully framed documentary.
For thousands of years, polar bears have followed the shores of Hudson Bay, waiting for the sea ice to return. In Churchill, Manitoba, that ancient migration now passes through a town that has transformed the bears into a global attraction, drawing tourists eager for an up-close encounter with one of the Arctic’s most powerful predators. Nuisance Bear follows one young bear as he navigates an increasingly contrived path, his ancient route reshaped by tourism, wildlife management, and relocation efforts. As climate change delays the freeze and pushes bears closer to human settlements, the boundaries between habitat, tourism, and public safety grow unstable. After being removed from Churchill, the bear continues north toward Arviat, where the predominantly Inuit community faces a very different reality of living alongside the animals. Guided by the reflections of Inuit elder Mike Tunalaaq Gibbons, filmmakers Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman examine the ways wildlife management, colonialism, and competing ideas of coexistence shape life across the region. Sweeping cinematography and a haunting score preserve the bears’ majesty even as the film reveals how every human attempt to manage, market, or contain them further complicates their path.
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