Black background.
[WIND SOUNDS]
Two baby polar bears sleep tucked in the arms of an adult polar bear. One of the baby polar bears slowly begins to wake up and pops its head up.
[ADULT POLAR BEAR SNORTS]
The adult polar bear begins to wake up, moving its front paws and blinking.
Wind blows snow in gusts on an icy surface.
[CRACKLING WIND SOUNDS]
Over seven people wearing thick snow jackets stand in front of two vans and behind large telescopes set up on tripods.
One person stands on top of a van on a platform with the tripod mounted telescope and looks out of it. The group of people standing in front of the van, looking through their telescopes, stand in front of the person on top of the van.
[CAMERA NOISE]
The two baby polar bears, now awake, nuzzle the adult bear who is still laying down and blinking.
[BABY BEAR SQUEAKS]
[ADULT BEAR BREATHES HEAVILY]
Smoke rises between two vans.
[PEOPLE CHATTER]
A person whose face we don’t see ladles soup into a bowl.
A person wearing a beanie and sunglasses sits in the front seat of a car and eats soup.
A person in a snow jacket and snow boots stands on top of a van, holding a telescope.
[CAMERA NOISE]
[PEOPLE CHATTING AND LAUGHING]
A polar bear and a baby polar bear peek out above thick snow.
SPEAKER #1 (in voiceover): My heart rate is over 180 right now.
The baby polar bear peeks up higher.
Sunday, May 3
7:30 pm | LeFrak Theater
New York Premiere
Director in Attendance: Gabriela Osio Vanden, Jack Weisman
2026 | 87 min | USA, Canada
Winner of the U.S. Documentary Competition Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, Nuisance Bear drops us into northern Canada, where a wandering polar bear has become an unlikely menace to a small town. As polar bear safaris draw waves of tourists, the film observes an uneasy coexistence among the bear, the region’s Inuit community, and a booming tourism economy. Visually arresting and morally complex, Nuisance Bear overturns nature-documentary conventions, reframing animals as active agents in a rapidly changing world.
Check out the full Margaret Mead Film Festival schedule or get a ticket to see Nuisance Bear.