Doc Talk Podcast: ‘Nuisance Bear’ Directors On Their Ursine Oscar Contender, Shot From A Polar Bear POV
‘Nuisance Bear’, the feature debut of directors Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman, has received widespread recognition this year. The documentary challenges conventional nature films by presenting events from the polar bears’ point of view, showing how human activity shapes their lives near Churchill, Manitoba.
The film premiered at Sundance in January and won the US Documentary Grand Jury Prize; it has since received more than a dozen other awards and five Critics Choice Documentary Award nominations. In a podcast discussion, the directors described filming in Churchill, their closest encounter with a bear after it was relocated, and how they became engaged and married during Sundance.
In short
- ‘Nuisance Bear’ tells the story from polar bears’ perspective.
- The debut won Sundance’s US Documentary Grand Jury Prize.
- Its directors discussed filming and their relationship on a podcast.
Explained simply
Churchill, in Manitoba, is a town on the shore of Hudson Bay where polar bears gather each autumn as they wait for the sea ice to form. The bears’ presence is part of local life, and encounters with people can lead to safety measures or bears being moved away from the town.
Nature documentaries often explain wildlife through human narration and scientific observation. Nuisance Bear takes a different approach, using the bears’ point of view to explore how people, tourism and changing conditions affect their lives around Churchill.
The film is the first feature by directors Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman. Its recognition has brought attention to a story that connects wildlife, the people who live alongside it and the ways documentaries can present that relationship.