Role: Executive Producer
Premiere: Sundance Film Festival 2026, Grand Jury Prize for US Documentary
Distributor: MUBI
Production Company: Documist, A24, Rise Films
Churchill, Manitoba, is famous as an international destination for photographing polar bears. We've seen the majestic images and classic wildlife TV programs - but what does the bear see of us? 'Nuisance Bear' shifts the perspective to reveal the obstacle course of tourist paparazzi and wildlife officers that bears navigate during their annual migration.
Nuisance Bear is a Documist, A24, and Rise Films production directed by Jack Weisman and Gabriela Osio Vanden. This feature documentary is an adaptation of a short documentary produced by Documist and The New Yorker Studios, which premiered at TIFF 2021 and went on to be shortlisted for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.
Awards
2026 Sundance Film Festival | Winner | U.S Grand Jury Prize: Documentary
2026 Werner Herzog Film Award | Winner
2026 CinemAmbiente | Winner | Best International Film
2026 Academia Film Olomouc | Winner | Best International Science Documentary
2026 Mammoth Lakes Film Festival | Winner | Audience Award
2026 Medocino Film Festival | Winner | Best Feature Documentary
2026 Mountain Film Festival | Winner | James Balog Creative Vision Award
2026 Festival de Cine Santiago Wild | Winner | Best Sound
2026 International Wildlife Film Festival | Winner | Best Wildlife Conservation
2026 DC Environmental Film Festival | Winner | William W. Warner Voice of Nature Award
Behind the Scenes
The team behind Nuisance Bear rigged up an old 4x4 with a car-mounted gimbal to create a one-of-a-kind bear cinematography vehicle.
