The trip around the world of a Quebec family will be the subject of a National Geographic documentary co-directed by Canadian Oscar-winning director Daniel Roher.
“It’s a bet, agreeing to spend several days on the road with a documentary team, but in the end, it was extraordinary,” says Edith Lemay.
Edith Lemay and Sébastien Pelletier, a couple from Boucherville, traveled for more than a year to show the world to their four children. Three of them – Mia, 12, Colin, 8, and Laurent, 6 – have retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disease that causes gradual vision loss. Only Leo, 10 years old, escaped this genetic disease. Edith and Sébastien wanted to show their children all the beauty of the world while there is still time.
After catching the attention of media around the world, from CNN and the BBC to the New York Times and France 2, their adventure will be brought to the screen in a documentary co-directed by the Torontonian Daniel Roher, director of the film Navalny (which won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature at the last Academy Awards), and by Britain’s Edmund Stenson, associate editor for Navalny.
The Pelletier-Lemay family was contacted by the American studio MRC shortly after their departure, in the spring of 2022. In October, the film crew met the clan for the first time, halfway through the trip. They met several times during this journey which spanned three continents. “My main motivation was to have memories for my children, images,” explains Edith, who points out that her children quickly adopted the film crew. “And us adults were happy to change the family bubble from time to time! »
The working title of the documentary is Blink of an Eye. In a statement, the makers say their film “moves from beautiful and breathtaking to quiet and intimate, telling the story of a family that refuses to let the future define their present.” They also speak of a “tale filled with family strength and childlike wonder” that they say will “resonate with families everywhere.”
Edith Lemay hopes that their story, beyond making people aware of the existence of this disease for which there is no treatment, can first inspire them. “Despite a diagnosis, you can look on the bright side and what you can do, and not stop at what’s not going well,” she concludes.
The film, currently in production, will be offered on National Geographic channels and on Disney. The release date is not yet known.
