Blink, the story of the remarkable Lemay-Pelletier family of Montreal, will premiere on National Geographic December 16, followed the next by a debut on Disney+ and Hulu.
Before bowing on linear TV and the Disney-owned streaming platforms, the award-winning film is continuing its festival run – latest stop, the prestigious International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). Filmmaker Edmund Stenson is in the Dutch capital to support IDFA screenings of the documentary he co-directed with Oscar winner Daniel Roher (Navalny).
Blink, which won the Audience Choice Award at the Heartland Film Festival, takes viewers on a journey around the world with Édith Lemay, her husband Sébastien Pelletier, and their four kids – Mia, Léo, Colin, and Laurent. Édith and Sébastien organized the trip after learning that three of their kids – Mia, Colin, and Laurent – would eventually go blind because of the incurable eye condition retinitis pigmentosa. As they explain in the film, they wanted their children to have extraordinary visual memories to hold onto after their vision fades.
(Clockwise from left) Mia, Colin, Laurent, and Léo Pelletier lay in the snow and look up to the sky in Kuujjuaq, Canada
National Geographic/Katie Orlinsky
Blink was released in more than 250 theaters across the U.S. and Canada in October by Walt Disney Studios.
“We were so happy to see how Blink resonated with theatrical audiences of all ages this fall, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to be working with National Geographic to bring it to Disney+ and Hulu,” directors Stenson and Roher said in a statement. “There’s no better home for this film, and we like to imagine that families across the world will huddle around their screens this holiday season and laugh, cry and explore the world with the endlessly inspiring Lemay-Pelletier family.”
Carolyn Bernstein, EVP of Documentary Films for National Geographic, said, “We are delighted to bring this heartwarming film to our television and streaming audience after its impactful theatrical run. Blink is the perfect family-friendly film going into the holidays and embodies the spirit of adventure and exploration at the heart of the National Geographic brand. We can’t wait for audiences everywhere to be inspired by the remarkable Pelletier family as they journey around the world and into an unknown future.”
Blink has two additional screenings remaining at IDFA – on Thursday (Nov. 21) and Saturday (Nov. 23). It held its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival in late August and has also screened at the Camden International Film Festival in Maine, Vancouver International Film Festival, Hamptons International Film Festival, and London Film Festival, and others.
Stenson tells Deadline he sees the film as “a testament to familial strength and resilience in the face of adversity. Yes, the diagnosis is visual impairment-specific, but it’s really a broader story about what do you do when the world throws you something? How do you respond? How do you react?”
The Lemay-Pelletier family visited 24 countries over the course of a year, including Botswana, Egypt, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Nepal, China, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and more.
Roher tells Deadline he learned a lot from observing Édith and Sébastien.
“As we were in production for this film, I became a father and it was sort of this stunning coincidence that I was making a film about parenthood and the lengths the parents will go to for their children while Caroline and I were starting our family,” he observes. “And that’s one of the primary reasons why Ed did the bulk of the principal photography and traveling with the family because Caroline and I welcomed our baby boy Gideon into the world. But it was very special and meaningful to sort of get this master class on parenting via the dailies that were coming in that I was screening and spending time with from home while Ed was off on this wonderful adventure.”
Roher describes the family’s journey as “an abundantly beautiful, wonderful story that is a life affirming, good, positive story in a news cycle that is often not that.”
Blink is produced by Academy Award-winners Melanie Miller (p.g.a) and Diane Becker (p.g.a) for Fishbowl Films, in association with MRC and EyeSteelFilm. Co-producers include Ann Rogers and Christina Radburn, with Madison Horton and Kelsey van den Bergh serving as associate producers. Music is by Tamar-Kali, with additional music created by Hunter Hanson and Steve Wright. The documentary is edited by Ryan Mullins and Miranda Yousef (ACE). Jean-Sébastien Francoeur serves as director of photography. Executive producers include Amit Dey and Eyesteel’s Bob Moore. Carolyn Bernstein serves as executive producer for National Geographic Documentary Films.
Blink will screen as part of Deadline’s For the Love of Docs virtual series on December 3, followed by a conversation with directors Stenson and Roher, and film participant Édith Lemay.