Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibilityNuisance Bear | 2026 Sundance Film Festival
Accessibility

U.S. Documentary Competition

Nuisance Bear

sd_star_fav_icon
United States/Canada202690 minInuktitut, English
Nuisance Bear

A polar bear is forced to navigate a human world of tourists, wildlife officers, and hunters as its ancient migration collides with modern life. When a sacred predator is branded a nuisance, it becomes unclear who truly belongs in this shared landscape.

+ More

A polar bear is forced to navigate a human world of tourists, wildlife officers, and hunters as its ancient migration collides with modern life. When a sacred predator is branded a nuisance, it becomes unclear who truly belongs in this shared landscape.

Filmmakers Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman return to Churchill, Manitoba — affectionately known as the Polar Bear Capital of the World — to deepen the inquiry begun in their award-winning short film. The result is a striking portrait of the fraught coexistence between polar bears and humans, guided by an Inuit narrator whose insights resist simplification.

The film traces this relationship with nuance, revealing how these arctic creatures deal with being constantly monitored, photographed, and redirected. There is a thrill in watching a polar bear outwit human efforts to contain it, underscoring the bears resilience and the fragility of the systems that attempt to control them.

By challenging the conventions of a nature documentary and favoring confrontation over moralism, Nuisance Bear invites us to reconsider our assumptions about wildlife as spectacle. — AT

Available in person. Also available online for the public (January 29–February 1) and credentialed press and industry (January 28–February 1). 

U.S. Documentary CompetitionAll FeaturesBIPOC StoriesEnvironmental StoriesFirst-Time FeaturesIndigenous StoriesInternationalNon-English LanguageNonfictionClosed CaptionOpen CaptionU.S. Only- less

Screenings

in persononline
  • Jan 24, 3:00 PM MST
    Premiere

    Library Center Theatre

    Park City

    Closed CaptionClosed Caption

  • Jan 25, 11:00 AM MST
    Screening

    Megaplex Redstone - 4

    Park City

    Closed CaptionClosed Caption

  • Jan 28, 5:20 PM MST
    Screening

    Megaplex Redstone - 3

    Park City

    Closed CaptionClosed Caption

  • Jan 31, 12:00 PM MST
    Screening

    Holiday Village Cinemas - 3

    Park City

    Open CaptionOpen Caption

  • Feb 1, 11:30 AM MST
    Screening

    Broadway Centre Cinemas - 3

    Salt Lake City

    Closed CaptionClosed Caption

  • Jan 29, 3:00 PM GMT -
    Feb 2, 6:55 AM GMT
    Online Screening

    Closed CaptionClosed Caption

Credits

  • Director(s)

    Gabriela Osio Vanden

    Jack Weisman

  • Producer

    Michael Code

    Will N. Miller

    Teddy Leifer

  • Executive Producers

    Joe Karetak

    Eric Anoee

    Nicole Stott

    Emily Osborne

    Harry Go

    Nicole Quintero Ochoa

    Moudhy Al-Rashid

    Sam Frohman

    Alex Pritz

  • Cinematographers

    Gabriela Osio Vanden

    Jack Weisman

    Michael Code

    Sam Holling

    Ian Kerr

    Jack Gawthrop

  • Editor

    Andres Landau

  • Composer

    Cristóbal Tapia de Veer

  • Sound Design

    David Rose

  • Colorist

    Joseph Bicknell

  • Re-Recording Mixer

    Lou Solakofski

Meet the Artist

Panelist Name

Gabriela Osio Vanden

  • Instagram

Gabriela Osio Vanden is an award-winning Venezuelan Canadian filmmaker based in Toronto. She brings her background in visual arts and an intuitive aesthetic to elevate the projects she works on, whether documentaries, narratives, or commercials. Her work has screened at the Sundance Film Festival, SXSW, TIFF, and Camerimage.

Panelist Name

Jack Weisman

  • Instagram

Jack Weisman is known for original storytelling that defies easy classification. His breakout short, Nuisance Bear, offers a gripping, wordless study of polar bears navigating human-dominated landscapes in Churchill, Manitoba. The film received widespread acclaim, earning a spot on the 95th Academy Awards shortlist for Documentary Short Film.

You May Also Like

U.S. Documentary Competition
sd_banner_img

Who Killed Alex Odeh?

FilmUnFillFavIcon

The assassination of a beloved Palestinian American activist in Southern California ignites a 40-year quest for justice, revealing the roots of a dangerous political movement that thrives today.

(1hr 23mins)
U.S. Documentary Competition
sd_banner_img

American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez

FilmUnFillFavIcon

Against political resistance and industry skepticism, Luis Valdez pushes Chicano storytelling from the fields to the film screen with Zoot Suit and La Bamba, crafting iconic works that challenge, celebrate, and expand America’s story.

(1hr 32mins)
U.S. Documentary Competition
sd_banner_img

The Lake

FilmUnFillFavIcon

An environmental nuclear bomb looms in Utah. Two intrepid scientists and a political insider race the clock to save their home from unprecedented catastrophe.

(1hr 28mins)
U.S. Documentary Competition
sd_banner_img

American Doctor

FilmUnFillFavIcon

When three American doctors — Palestinian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian — enter Gaza to save lives, they find themselves caught between medicine and politics, risking everything to expose the truth.

(1hr 33mins)

FESTIVAL HOST STATE

Sponsor

FESTIVAL HOST STATE

FESTIVAL HOST STATE

FESTIVAL HOST STATE