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

Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other

Dir. Manon Ouimet & Jacob Perlmutter
100 min

This intimate and candid film by a younger husband and wife artist team is a delicate and immensely moving dual portrait of two artists, husband and wife, together and apart, at that point in life when the end casts a shadow over even the sunniest day.

Image: © Manon et Jacob and Final Cut For Real

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Agatha's Almanac

Dir. Amalie Atkins
86 min

Shot over six years on vibrant 16mm film, Agatha’s Almanac is an artful documentary portrait of filmmaker Amalie Atkin’s octogenarian aunt, who has fashioned herself an endearingly simple and self-sustaining lifestyle on her Manitoba farm.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Suburban Fury

Dir. Robinson Devor
120 min

Sara Jane Moore was a 1970s housewife who took the unusual step of trying to assassinate the President of the United States. An action that cost her dearly. This is her story.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Blue Road - The Edna O'Brien Story

Dir. Sinéad O'Shea
99 min

Judging by this candid, funny, passionate biographical documentary, it would have been a wild ride to have been Irish novelist Edna O'Brien, or even to have been in her circle of friends and lovers. Well, for an hour and a half we can pretend we were.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

The Art of Adventure

Dir. Alison Reid
90 min

The unbelievable adventure story of how painter Robert Bateman and ecologist Bristol Foster drove a Land Rover from Africa to Australia in 1957, developing a love of nature to last a lifetime. An inspirational love letter to the adventure of life itself.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Man With a Movie Camera Live Scored by Taras Luka

67 min

Bottomless invention and frenetic, dizzying montage make this city symphony one of cinema’s sharpest, most exciting experiences nearly a century after its release — here presented with a brand new score by Ukrainian composer and pianist Taras Luka.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema