“The hardest thing about being a parent is to let him go.”
Those words come from Edith Lemay, mother and heart of the Pelletier family, setting the tone for Blink, a touching new documentary from National Geographic arriving in Chinese mainland cinemas on August 16.
The film takes us inside a family from Montreal whose lives are forever changed when three of their four children are diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa.
This rare inherited condition slowly robs them of their sight.
Rather than sinking into despair, Edith, her husband Sébastien, and their kids—Mia, Léo, Colin, and Laurent—choose to fill their children’s visual memory with the beauty of the world while they still can.
For a year, they travel across 24 countries, ticking off bucket list adventures imagined by the kids themselves, from riding camels in Egypt to surfing in Indonesia and watching sunrises from the foothills of the Himalayas.
On top of the breathtaking places, the film captures the real, tender moments between family members as they laugh, face fears, and embrace an uncertain future.
One particularly gripping scene comes from Ecuador, where the family finds themselves stranded for hours in a broken gondola high above the ground.
The footage wasn’t shot by the film crew but by Edith herself, capturing the kids’ growing anxiety as night falls.
Moments like these reveal the resilience and love that hold this family together.
The filmmakers balance the weighty subject with warmth and lightness, adding engaging animations and uplifting music that make the story feel hopeful and heartfelt rather than heavy.
Reviews have been enthusiastic about Blink.
“Transporting… reminds us to look at each day as if it might be the last” – The New York Times
“…achieves a transcendent state of grace” – RogerEbert.com
The Guardian highlights its poetic, optimistic tone while recognizing the moments when the film pulls back the curtain on the family’s more raw and realistic emotions.
Meanwhile, POV, a Canadian magazine, praises the film’s collaborative storytelling and the rich parental perspective that shapes its emotional core.
At the Shanghai International Film Festival in June 2025, the documentary was warmly received, with audiences moved by its sincerity and emotional depth.
Behind the scenes, Blink was crafted by directors Daniel Roher and Edmund Stenson, both celebrated for their empathic, award-winning documentaries, and by producers Diane Becker and Melanie Miller — the Oscar-winning team behind Navalny.
Together, they create a film that is both visually stunning and profoundly moving.
Since premiering at the Telluride Film Festival, Blink has picked up several honors, including winning the 46th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Award for Editing-Documentary, the Golden Trailer Awards for Best Documentary Feature and Best Music TV Spot.
It has also been nominated for awards at the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards and Cinema for Peace, proving its impact on both audiences and critics alike.
As Blink opens this August, we invite you to join the Pelletier family on their incredible journey.
Let us know what parts moved you the most?
And how did their story shift your thoughts about vision, family, and hope?
[All images via National Geographic press site]
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