MUBI releases Nuisance Bear trailer ahead of November cinema opening
MUBI has released the trailer for Nuisance Bear, its feature documentary about polar bears moving through a small northern town, in an exclusive debut reported by Deadline.
The film was directed and filmed by Jack Weisman and Gabriela Osio Vanden, according to Deadline. That credit means the two film-makers both shaped the story and shot the footage themselves.
The story is set in Churchill, Manitoba. It follows the autumn polar bear migration as it meets modern human life, with bears passing homes, roads and compounds built to hold animals that wander too close, as described by the Sundance organisation. Bears walk past shops and fences. People watch, wait and get out of the way.
MUBI will open the film in cinemas in Los Angeles on 6 November, Deadline reported. It will then open in New York, Canada and the United Kingdom on 4 December. The staggered pattern is a common way to launch a specialist film city by city.
That cinema rollout follows a strong festival run. Nuisance Bear premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, the directors told Documentary.org, and went on to win the Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Documentary, according to Deadline. The prize is the top jury award in its section at Sundance.
It has also won the 2026 Werner Herzog Film Award, Deadline reported. The film has received five Critics Choice Documentary Awards nominations, which are honours voted on by critics working in documentary film and television.
The feature grew out of a 14-minute short of the same name. The short was released in 2022 and played at more than 120 film festivals, according to VIFF, and it won a Critics Choice Award. Expanding a short into a feature often means returning to the same place with more time and material.
MUBI acquired worldwide rights to the feature in May, as reported by Deadline. In plain terms, that deal gave the distributor control of cinema and streaming releases around the world.
What makes this stand out is the journey from festival short to full cinema release. For viewers, it means a story first seen in a 14-minute form will now play out at feature length on the big screen.
