Maria and I

Barcelona-based Miguel Gallardo is one of Spain’s most influential illustrators. He is also a father to 14-year-old María, who lives 3000km away with her mother May in the Canary Islands. Miguel is off on holiday with María to Gran Canaria, only as María is autistic, going anywhere is never a straightforward activity. This deeply moving and refreshingly honest documentary is inspired by Gallardo’s award-winning comic strip capturing the idiosyncrasies and routines of life with María. The day-to-day holiday adventures of father and daughter are charted with humour, irony, and a sincerity that never appears earnest or sentimental. Deploying Gallardo’s illustrations alongside documentary footage of María with her father, Félix Fernández de Castro’s spirited debut film offers a way of understanding the challenges of living with autism while simultaneously capturing the loving relationship between father and daughter across the different activities undertaken during the course of their holiday.