Polar bears are both a welcome and an unwelcome sight in the town of Churchill, Manitoba.
And the tourists pour a lot of money into the local economy.
It is the latter kind of animal that occupies the frame in the Oscar-shortlisted documentaryNuisance Bear.
‘Nuisance Bear’The New Yorker
We realized that there was this missing component in the stories that were being captured there… At this stage, the film might seem like a typical nature documentary.
When it comes on the other side and its in the brush, then its valuable.
And so our film is sort of composed of all the moments that people dont think of as valuable.
‘Nuisance Bear’ directors Jack Weisman and Gabriela Osio VandenThe New Yorker
Its a purely visual and aural experience.
Were both documentary shooters but I also work in narrative and commercials as well.
And you spend a lot of time thinking about how you’re free to show things visually.
It just felt like a challenge for ourselves.
Its not as if the filmmakers werent tempted at various times to incorporate expected elements.
It wasnt fully intentional in the beginning, but it just got shaped by these different creative limitations.
Theres a dramatization of polar bears in the media as being monsters, Weisman observes.
But I think theres been a sort of exaggeration because its a grabby story about maulings.
There was one mauling in the last like decade… Obviously, it was really traumatic and tragic.
No one was killed, except for the bear.
We all know that as sea ice melts, theyre going to be vulnerable to that.
[But] were filmmakers and were not scientists, Osio Vanden says.
We wanted to make something that was experiential of what we were witnessing and specifically about this wildlife-human interaction.
And I was like, Whoa, really?
She said, Yeah, but you need a proper sound designer and color.
And I was like, We dont have any money.
It would not have been this film without Dave.
Weisman and Osio Vanden say they didnt necessarily count on making the shorts shortlist themselves.
But it wasnt expected.
It was just a really good feeling.
Adds Weisman, Its very unpredictable.
