{"id":856281,"date":"2026-08-15T15:20:34","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T15:20:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/856281\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T15:20:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T15:20:34","slug":"nuisance-bear-documentary-why-we-should-rethink-our-fascination-with-celebrity-animals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/856281\/","title":{"rendered":"Nuisance Bear documentary: Why we should rethink our fascination with \u2018celebrity\u2019 animals"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Nell<\/p>\n

August 15, 2026 \u2014 9:30am<\/p>\n

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AAA<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Melbourne International Film Festival has kicked off. Here we take a closer look at some of what\u2019s on offer. See all stories.<\/a><\/p>\n

If this year has made anything clear, it\u2019s that we love \u201cnuisance\u201d animals.<\/p>\n

When Neil, the elephant seal,<\/a> visited Seven Mile Beach near Hobart, thousands of people flocked to see him, including interstate travellers. When Jimothy<\/a>, an abnormally round raccoon, was spotted zipping around the suburban streets of Seattle, he became an unofficial mascot<\/a> for the local baseball team. And when the filmmakers of A24\u2019s documentary Nuisance Bear<\/a> arrived in Manitoba, they found themselves filming alongside legions of tourists, all desperately hoping to capture footage of the region\u2019s migrating polar bears.<\/p>\n

\"NuisanceNuisance Bear documents the complicated coexistence between humans and migrating polar bears.<\/p>\n

But as adorable, funny or downright strange as it may be to see these wild animals encroaching on \u201chuman\u201d spaces, Canadian filmmakers Jack Weisman and Gabriela Osio Vanden discovered there\u2019s something more insidious going on beneath the surface.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more famous an animal gets, the more likely it\u2019s going to die because there are just too many people harassing it,\u201d says Weisman, co-directer of Nuisance Bear. \u201cIt will become too comfortable with humans, and then it will cross that line. It\u2019s always the animal that loses.\u201d<\/p>\n

He encountered this harsh reality when filming Nuisance Bear, a 10-year project that won the Grand Jury Prize for US Documentary at Sundance<\/a>, and is now screening at the Melbourne International Film Festival. Shot in Churchill, Manitoba \u2013 the \u201cpolar bear capital of the world\u201d \u2013 and the nearby Inuit community of Arviat, the film explores the uneasy coexistence between humans and migrating polar bears, as climate change delays the seasonal freezing of Hudson Bay.<\/p>\n

Just like Neil and Jimothy, the Manitoba polar bears attract major attention as they meander through populated towns. However, the documentary demonstrates how general wildlife appreciation can transform into spectacle, putting both ourselves and the animals at risk.<\/p>\n

It goes beyond our actions \u2013 even our perception of wildlife is flawed. When picturing polar bears, most envision the pristine arctic, areas untouched by humans. But Weisman says this is a colonial idea used to push Indigenous people off the land.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore colonisation, there were nomadic people moving all around. There were always people interacting with animals everywhere, and so it\u2019s a newer idea that there\u2019s this separation between ourselves and the wilderness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Ariana<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s largely because of this constructed distinction that we\u2019re so fascinated with \u201cnuisance\u201d animals. They appear mysterious and \u201cother\u201d, Osio Vanden says, and therefore something people want to immortalise on camera.<\/p>\n

This, however, can transform into harassment<\/a> or habituate animals to human spaces.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn one hand, I love seeing [Jimothy] emerge from the woods and show that not all raccoons look the same,\u201d Osio Vanden says. \u201cWitnessing animals\u2019 survival abilities is very inspiring. But all these things are a double-edged sword.\u201d<\/p>\n

Take Neil the seal, who, according to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, racked up a damage bill<\/a> of $45,674 thanks to his bollard-smashing and traffic-cone crunching antics. Meanwhile, some US wildlife officials have expressed concern over Jimothy fans desperately seeking selfies with the raccoon (who is believed to have a disorder called short spine syndrome) since this could disrupt his natural behaviours<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Neil,Neil, the seal, has become an Aussie icon. But could his fame do more harm than good?Rebecca Morris, Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania\"JimothyJimothy the raccoon went viral online because of his abnormally round body and long legs, which some believe to be the result of a disorder called short spine syndrome.Kiana Hall\/Instagram<\/p>\n

The irony, Weisman says, is that these \u201cpest\u201d animals are actually more like us than we realise. The ingenuity required to survive alongside humans and thwart our efforts to drive them away rivals only our own. We may not look like a 1000-kilogram seal, and we may not love rubbish as much as Jimothy, but Weisman believes they still trigger deep reflection about how we live on the land and take up space.<\/p>\n

So, who is the real nuisance? It\u2019s certainly not the animals, Osio Vanden says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bear in our film is constantly being pestered by crackers and cars when it\u2019s just trying to go along its migration path. I imagine for most animals trying to navigate a human world, it\u2019s super complex \u2026 We\u2019re always thinking about how these things affect us, but how do we affect them? We\u2019re a huge problem for ourselves and for all the living things we share this planet with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Article\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Nuisance Bear doesn\u2019t point a finger at anyone in particular. While the Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities differ in their approach \u2013 the former generally support sustainable polar bear hunting<\/a> while the latter tend to capture and relocate \u2013 the documentary doesn\u2019t \u201cpick a side\u201d, other than, perhaps, the bear\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Weisman hopes audiences never look at \u201cnuisance\u201d animals the same way.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen engaging with wildlife, they\u2019re not just a spectacle. They look back at us. They\u2019re affected by our behaviour. They\u2019re sensitive \u2013 much more sensitive than humans are. We like to think that animals are not as intelligent as us because it justifies our cruelty. I just hope that people will look at \u2018nuisance\u2019 animals in a more nuanced and deep way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nuisance Bear<\/a> will screen as part of MIFF on August 15 and 17.<\/p>\n

Must-see movies, interviews and all the latest from the world of film delivered to your inbox. Sign up for our Screening Room newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"NellNell Geraets<\/a> is a Culture reporter at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"August 15, 2026 \u2014 9:30am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":856282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,128,338],"class_list":["post-856281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=856281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/856282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=856281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=856281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=856281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}