Nuisance Bear

"Each fall tourists flock to Churchill, Manitoba, to witness polar bears in the wild during their annual migration."

So begins Nuisance Bear, with these words that will serve as our only background to the film. In a way, this short film is a real antithesis to television documentaries such as Planet Earth. While we find the same formal qualities in this short as in the NatGeo programs, namely camera movements made with frankly surgical precision and immaculate sound treatment, the young filmmakers drop the abundant narration in favor of their images' inherent strength. The result is one that oscillates between humorous commentary and tragic irony, as shots of bears struggling to live their daily lives and the citizens who inhabit the ghost town of Churchill are interspersed. The paradox is that humans, flocking by the hundreds to organize safari tours and attempt to photograph these "dangerous predators", are habituating the bears to their presence and destroying their ecosystem. In this sense, who came first? Who is the real nuisance?

Jean-François Vaudrin
Head of acquisitions at Tënk
and film critic