Cartoonist Miguel has an autistic daughter with his ex-wife May. Maria spends her time between the Canary Islands, where her mother lives, and Barcelona with her father. Miguel and Maria go to a resort on their summer vacation and a special story unfolds between the father and daughter. [Maria and I] is an excellent documentary about how to live with a disability and demonstrates the sincere love noted Spanish cartoonist Miguel Gallardo has for his daughter. Through interviews with his ex-wife and his own testimony, the mixture of real action and animation creates a detailed illustration without being overly sentimental-from the first time he found out about his daughter’s autism to the present where she is now a teenager. Unlike other documentaries that deal with similar topics, this film’s meaningful contents that dispel the public’s ignorance of autism are impressive. Hats off to the director’s method, taking a topic that could become serious and making it upbeat and funny, sometimes with the help of animation. Like Miguel said, one of the film’s greatest virtues is that it enables us to look without prejudice at Maria as a happy girl. (RHEE Soue-won)