Lightning McQueen, a hotshot rookie race car driven to succeed, discovers that life is about the journey, not the finish line, when he finds himself unexpectedly detoured in the sleepy Route 66 town of Radiator Springs. On route across the country to the big Piston Cup Championship in California to compete against two seasoned pros, McQueen gets to know the town's offbeat characters.

“I don’t drive, but I know people who’ll drive 100 metres to go to the shops. Our society is obsessed with the car, with coming and going, getting somewhere. I used very intricate matting, some shaped like knives. I wanted the cars to slice each other in two, creating a kind of hurdy gurdy atmosphere…an abstract rushing to and fro, going nowhere. The first half of the film is silent. The second half, a grainy dupe of the same images, has sound and is far more urgent and aggressive.” (Paul Winkler)