True romance: partners in life and filmmaking
To celebrate Valentine’s Day we talk with Nuisance Bear co-directors Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman, who just won the Grand Jury Prize in the U.S. Documentary competition at the Sundance Film Festival, about falling in love in Churchill, Manitoba, and the joys and challenges of working with your spouse.
Love means never having to say you’re sorry.
Unless you’re a couple working on a film set.
Navigating any relationship is tricky, but when two creatives join forces professionally it can be especially fraught. Creative differences can follow you home and the boundary between work colleague and life partner may blur.
Yet, all those challenges can also fuel a relationship, strengthening a bond forged by creativity.
That bond defines Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman, the filmmaking couple behind the acclaimed documentary Nuisance Bear, which had its world premiere at last month’s Sundance Film Festival and won the Grand Jury Prize in the prestigious festival’s U.S. Documentary competition.
Based on the duo’s 2021 short film of the same name, which you can watch here, the feature-length documentary takes the point of view of a polar bear declared a nuisance in Churchill, Manitoba, tagged as Canada’s polar bear capital. The documentary asks the question, who is the nuisance in this landscape — bear or human? The story culminates when the film’s Inuit narrator and bear come together.
Falling For Each Other, and the Subject Matter
The film has been a labour of love for Vanden and Weisman, who met 10 years ago while studying film at York University.
“We met in third or fourth year and were on again, off again. Then as part of a student project we ended up in Churchill together and the rest is history,” says Weisman.
“When we were there, we realized we could really rely on each other and we just kinda fell in love, both with the subject matter and also each other,” adds Vanden.
The pair continued to visit Churchill over the next decade realizing there was a story to be told about the bear-human connection. In all, they logged 250 days of shooting, accumulating 700 hours of footage. The 2021 short was a hit with audiences and was shortlisted for an Oscar nomination. That success fuelled their belief that a feature documentary would resonate with viewers.
Working Together, Acknowledging Differences
Chatting over Zoom from their Toronto home a few days before heading to Sundance, Vanden and Weisman are relaxed. While they don’t finish each other’s sentences, they are in sync and the conversation between them flows naturally.
One wonders if they were always in sync while shooting?
“There was definitely tension at points and there was definitely fighting ’cause you can’t avoid it,” says Vanden. “But Jack and I are both really good at conflict resolution because we care about each other and we recognize we are on the same team even when we creatively butt heads.
“Part of the structure of the film is that it takes place in two towns,” she continues, “so for a lot of it we were separate. So sometimes we’d fight about a creative choice and I’d say, ‘Well, you’re not here so I am going to do what I want,’” she says, smiling.
“And it was the right choice!” exclaims Weisman. “That moment is one of the greatest things in the whole movie because of that choice. So, you have to trust the other person, although it’s hard to always trust, especially since we both have a particular way of doing things. We don’t see the world the same way. It gives us more of a 360-degree picture if you can get past the friction it causes.”
“We are very different people,” adds Vanden. “Yet we have common goals, common morals and common ideas of what we want out of life. But we bring different things to the table. Celebrating our differences, coming together and listening to each other is really important. It’s not always easy.”
Weathering the Storms
For the most part, filmmaking couples spend more time at home than on a set. That’s where discussions, planning and differences of opinions arise.
“We are 10 years into the relationship, and the working relationship, and so we had to learn over time,” explains Vanden. “I had to get to a point where I’d say, ‘It’s bedtime, I don’t wanna keep talking about this!’ [Both laugh.] Jack is so dogged when he has an interest.”
“It’s like an addiction,” he admits. “There weren’t enough boundaries, if we are being honest, in the relationship. We’ve almost split up at times because it has become so difficult. But we managed to make it through to the other side and there’s obviously a great reward to that. I’m so glad we did it together.”
Wiseman grew up in Ithaca, New York, before moving to Canada and becoming a Canadian citizen. Vanden is an Ottawa native, the daughter of a Canadian mother and Venezuelan father. They both cut their teeth working as cinematographers, and visual storytelling remains Vanden’s first love.
She imagines working on fiction films in the future but says the time spent making Nuisance Bear was a masterclass in filmmaking.
“Documentary is the best education for filmmaking and storytelling, especially as a cameraperson,” she says. “It just really hones your skills. It is so foundational to the way I am creatively. I think all filmmakers, at some point, should do some form of documentary.”
“We haven’t talked about doing another film together after this,” says Wiseman. “This is going to be a crazy year and we’re thankful for that. But it’s been nonstop for five years now. The short took off more than we could have imagined and there was almost 18 months of travelling with that. And then we went straight into production on the feature, and now we have another year to 18 months supporting this film. So, for me, it’s just going to be about slowing down a bit.”
What is their final piece of advice for other couples who plan to work together?
“Don’t be too hard on each other,” says Wiseman.
“Exactly,” echoes Vanden. “I also think it’s important for any relationship, even if you are not necessarily working together on a creative project, your life together has to be a project where you both have the same goals coming out of it. So, because we want the same things out of our lives, out of our careers, out of this project, we were able to weather all the storms.”
