A heartwarming film from National Geographic tracks the global adventure of a family with four children, three of whom are going blind due to a rare genetic disorder.
The film, titled "Blink," follows the Pelletier family as they travel around the world with their four children.
Their adventure began after three of the four children were diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic disorder that is characterized by the progressive degeneration of photoreceptor cells in the retina that leads to permanent loss of vision at varying rates.
"The hardest part with the diagnosis was inaction. There's nothing they can do about it. There's no treatment," Edith, their mother, said in the film, as quoted by UpWorthy. "We don't know how fast it's going to go, but we expect them to be completely blind by mid-life."
The children diagnosed with the disorder were Mia, 13; Colin, 9; and Laurent, 7, per The National Geographic.
Where the Family Went
The diagnosis led the Pelletier family to travel around the globe in a year-long journey. The family travels across 24 countries, including Egypt, Nepal, Turkey, and Laos. The family aimed to tick off experiences on their bucket list. Mia, for instance, swam with dolphins while Colin realized his dream of sleeping on a train.
In addition, the Pelletier family focused on seeing sights and fauna that they would not have seen at home. Furthermore, the Pelletier family tried activities that would test their "limits" and allow their children to learn from the experience.
In each place they visited, the family captured as many photographs as possible so the children could still "see pictures" if they retained their central vision.
The family's adventure began in March 2022, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The trip lasted more than 70 days.
Behind the Production Team
Blink has received acclaim after it premiered in Telluride earlier this year. The film, which was produced by National Geographic Documentary Films, will be available in theaters on Oct. 4 in Canada and the United States. It will later be available to stream on Disney+ and Hulu.
The film was co-directed by Edmund Stenson and Daniel Roher, who won an Academy Award for the 2022 film Navalny.
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