Skip to main content
Blink film image; people in hiking gear sitting along rocky hillside

Blink

Insights

This event has passed

Canadian Premiere

In the wake of a shocking diagnosis that three of their four kids had retinitis pigmentosa, a rare genetic disease that causes blindness, Edith and Sébastien Pelletier decided to take their family on a whirlwind year of travel, so their children could fill up a visual memory bank of beautiful images around the world before they lost their sight completely. Following a bucket list written by the kids, the Pelletiers embark on a safari in Namibia, horseback riding in Mongolia, surfing in Indonesia, and countless other escapades, all while processing the disease that’s taking their vision.

Working with National Geographic, Oscar-winning directors Daniel Roher and Edmund Stenson (Navalny) capture breathtaking vistas, the far-ranging beauty of planet Earth in a way most of us will never experience first-hand, but also cultivate a powerfully inspirational vision of family and the resiliency of the human spirit. What begins as a childhood fantasia of exotic locales and globe-trotting adventures becomes a bittersweet journey of reflection, self-discovery, and heartwarming family connection.

 

Media Partner

Directors
Featuring

Edith Lemay, Sébastien Pelletier, Mia Pelletier, Léo Pelletier, Colin Pelletier, Laurent Pelletier

Credits
Country of Origin

USA/Canada

Year

2024

Language

In French and English with English subtitles

Film Contact
G

Open to youth!

84 min
Documentary Family Relations U18 May Attend
Fishbowl Films

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits & Director

Executive Producer

Amit Dey, Bob Moore

Producer

Melanie Miller, Diane Becker

Cinematography

Jean-Sébastien Francoeur

Editor

Ryan Mullins, Miranda Yousef

Original Music

Tamar-kali

Edmund Stenson headshot; Blink director

Edmund Stenson

Edmund Stenson’s work as director, producer, and editor spans documentary and fiction, focusing on social issues, loners, and nomads. He was an associate editor on the BAFTA and Oscar-winning Navalny (2022). His 2018 CBC documentary Finding Fukue went viral with over 14 million views, and The Martyr (2021) won Best Short Doc at Atlanta Shortsfest and FilmQuest. His editing credits include Being Black in Toronto (2020) and Ghosts of Our Forest (2017).

Daniel Roher headshot

Daniel Roher

Daniel Roher is a Canadian documentary director and producer. His film Once Were Brothers, which explores the legendary Robbie Robertson and The Band, opened the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival. In 2022, Roher’s film Navalny, about the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival where it won the U.S. Documentary Audience Award. It went on to win Best Documentary Feature at the 95th Academy Awards.

Filmography: Ghosts of Our Forest (2017); Once Were Brothers (2019); Navalny (2022)

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

Montreal, ma belle

Dir. Xiaodan He
118 min

In this Valentine to discovering love later in life, the ever-elegant Joan Chen plays Feng Xia, a 53-year-old Chinese immigrant and mother in Montreal whose world is turned upside down when she meets and falls in love with a young Quebecoise.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Tough Old Broads

Dir. Stacey Tenenbaum
90 min

Tough Old Broads is a feature documentary that follows three trailblazing women as they continue to make waves well into their 70s. Because you can't keep a good woman down.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

The Voice of Hind Rajab

Dir. Kaouther Ben Hania
89 min

Mixing documentary and reenactment, this film powerfully evokes the desperate attempts of the Red Crescent to rescue a six year old child trapped in a car under Israeli military fire. Oscar nominee: Best International Film

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

It Was Just an Accident

Dir. Jafar Panahi
105 min

Having offered some late-night assistance to a stranger in the wake of an auto accident, a mechanic grows convinced that he recognizes the supposed stranger’s voice as that of his torturer during a grueling prison spell.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

One Battle After Another

Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
162 min

PT Anderson's breathless satire is the best political action movie of 2025, a defiantly anti-MAGA rallying cry featuring a six pack of crackerjack performances. They'll still be talking about this one 50 years from now.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Turner & Constable

Dir. David Bickerstaff
93 min

Filmed as a supplement to a blockbuster exhibition at Tate Britain happening right now, this doc in the popular Exhibition on Screen series allows us to view these competitive, complementary English landscape artists side by side.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre