(Status: In Development)

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My Dad the Truck is a 2D-animated film project pitched at Cartoon Movie 2025. The impressive, warm visuals in the film’s trailer, which was screened at Cartoon Movie 2025, resemble a children’s picture book in motion, leading us to expect an emotionally rich story depicting parent-child relationships.

We interviewed María Cristina Pérez González, the creator of My Dad the Truck, on the creative aspects behind the film project.

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Interview with María Cristina Pérez González

Hideki Nagaishi (HN): Could you please let us know the film’s story in brief?

María Cristina Pérez González: My Dad the Truck tells the journey from the countryside to the city of Hilda, a 7-year-old girl, and her father Bonifacio, a clumsy, rustic farmer. After losing everything in a natural disaster, they set off in search of a better future. Bonifacio dreams of becoming a truck driver, and Hilda longs to find her missing mother. In the city, far from finding what they were looking for, Hilda begins to discover, through her innocent and unfiltered gaze, an adult world that feels both absurd and wonderful. But above all, this journey full of adventures with her father will help them rebuild a bond that, from the start, was just a little broken.

The film takes us on an emotional journey through the city, following Hilda and Bonifacio, left to their own fate. Each one faces the pain of their loss, searching for a place in the world, only to discover, in the end, that what they were looking for was right beside them all along: so close, yet invisible.

HN: Where did the initial idea of the film’s story come from?

María Cristina Pérez González: The idea began many years ago, inspired by memories of my relationship with my father. I started with the image of two characters who, despite living together, have never truly found one another and don’t know each other well enough.

Above all, I wanted to reflect a distant relationship between a father and daughter—one that, in the end, becomes a meaningful lesson in connection. That holds great personal meaning from my own perspective.

I was also interested in telling a story that felt like a promise of a journey, a journey that will literally appear in the film as a trip from the countryside to the city but that ultimately becomes a moving inner journey to discover the meaning of being a family.

HN: What do you think are the key points of this animated feature film that would attract the potential audience?

María Cristina Pérez González: It is a film with an undeniably Latin American identity, rooted in universal values and emotions. It explores the human struggle for survival, delves into the parent-child relationship, and follows a migration journey from the countryside to the city, all while offering an adventure infused with touches of magical realism and environmental themes. The film also has a distinctive visual style inspired by painting, using a technique that aims to preserve much of the handcrafted quality of my previous works. But above all, I want the film’s potential to lie in its deep sensitivity and human story, inviting viewers to rediscover the brilliance of the world through the eyes of a little girl.

HN: Could you please let us know what kind of message you most want to deliver to the audience through the film, if you have any?

María Cristina Pérez González: It is a film about facing loss, growing up, and being a parent; the desire to become someone in life, success and failure, and the struggle to survive in a frantic and competitive world. But more than that, I remember that during one of the development labs the project went through, someone said that the film is about a “sense of wonder,” and perhaps that reached the very heart of what this film is. I am deeply drawn to the idea of discovering wonder in the everyday, of finding beauty where it’s not usually seen. This is a film about characters who are often invisible in society, people with ordinary lives, who are not successful, who don’t achieve their goals, who are overlooked, but whose paths become extraordinary because they find meaning in their daily lives and in their uniqueness.

HN: What are you paying the most attention to during the film’s story development, so far?

María Cristina Pérez González: With co-writer Vanessa Chenaie, we have placed a strong emphasis on character development, focusing especially on the emotional core of the film: the bond that gradually forms between the father and daughter as they face various challenges throughout their journey in the city. We have carefully constructed the narrative layer by layer, using thematic parallels that ultimately reveal the story as a fable about modern life.

What is most important in shaping this concept is precisely that idea: a fable about the world we live in today, told from the perspective of a little girl. Her gaze is both innocent and wise, allowing her to perceive the world in a pure and original way.

It’s a coming-of-age story that is not about achieving a final goal, but about the journey itself, and that is what we are most carefully and thoughtfully crafting.

HN: What are you paying the most attention to in the visual design of the film, and why?

María Cristina Pérez González: I aim for the visual style to capture the most luminous, innocent, and poetic side of life, reflecting the film’s perspective—the childlike gaze of Hilda. That’s why the visual style is strongly inspired by art and painting. It will embrace the simplicity of Naïve Art while maintaining enough complexity and expressive depth to create a film rich in detail and clear in its storytelling. In the visual exploration of this project, my goal is to create a film of visual emotions, where the essence of the story is enriched by a rustic, handcrafted aesthetic, one that bears the mark of human touch. This approach embraces imperfection, making the film all the more moving, unique, and unrepeatable. Among the visual references are the works of Florence Miailhe and Simon Quadrat, among others.