Bear 71 is a 2012 interactive National Film Board of Canada (NFB) web documentary by Leanne Allison and Jeremy Mendes about a grizzly bear in Banff National Park, who was collared at the age of three and was watched her whole life via trail cameras in the park. In March 2017, Bear 71 was re-released as a virtual reality work, viewable on Google Daydream and Google Cardboard.
Following Bear 71, the web documentary explores the connections between the human and animal world, and the far-ranging effects that human settlements, roads and railways have on wildlife. The webdoc features a map of Banff National Park that allows users to follow Bear 71’s movements by scrolling over the cameras, and look at other users by activating the computer’s webcam.
Through the work of Leanne Allison's husband and film collaborator Karston Heuer (Being Caribou, Finding Farley), a park ranger at Banff, Allison was aware of thousands of hours of wildlife footage captured on remote trail cameras in the park. After obtaining permission from researchers, including Parks Canada, Alberta Provincial Parks and Montana State University, she spent months sifting through these low-res images. Allison originally pitched the idea to the NFB as a traditional documentary. Rob McLaughlin, then head of the National Film Board of Canada's digital studio in Vancouver, suggested an interactive project.