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María and I

Within its efforts to extend and make Autism known in society, the Fundación Orange participated in the Maria y yo (Maria and I) documentary adaptated by Spanish artist Miguel Gallardo. A delightful play that the artist has, in a natural humourous and tender way related the relationship he has with his daughter on holiday.

The film Maria and I is based on the comicand has been very successful, including the write ups from critics. It was nominated for the Premio Nacional de Cómic de Cataluña.

The documentary, directed by Félix Fernández de Castro and produced by Bausan Films and Pelis Chulas (Cool Movies), was launched in 2010. The Fundación Orange took part as associate producers.

Miguel Gallardo describes the plot like this: Maria lives with her mother in the Canary Islands, 3 hours flight from where I live in Barcelona." Sometimes we both go on vacation together, to spend a week at a resort in the South of Gran Canaria, frequented by British, Germans and other grockles. This is the story of one of those trips, taking advantage of the last days of summer in one of those hotels. On these trips Mary and I talk, especially her, we make lists of people and we laugh until we ache. Mary is 14 years old, has a contagious smile, a special sense of humour and she is autistic.

Maria and I is not a feature-length documentary about autism, but the story of an affectionate relationship between two people, a father and daughter; and therefore, a completely subjective and personal approach to the events, problems and satisfactions which take place in the daily lives of these two characters.

What that means is that autism is considered a circumstance surrounding the life of the characters in the documentary, not its central theme. One of the most important discoveries in the book, which attempts to come across in the film, is exactly this type of positive, vital, even humourous way to tackle the problems of daily life with someone who suffers from autism.