Cinema, Comics, and Poetic Vision: Suárez and Auladell at Alicante’s Cinemacrobatics Exhibition

Gonzalo Suárez began a collaboration that produced two film projects in 2019 and 2021, resulting in Malinche’s dream and Wings of Darkness. These works, along with their comic book adaptations, are currently part of a broader exhibition at the Alicante University Museum, curated by Pablo Auladell, a renowned Alicante illustrator who holds the National Comics Award. The show, titled Cinemacrobatics. Drawn movies, is running through February 19 and showcases the artist’s illustrations for these recent film and broadcast projects.

Malinche’s dream, created by Suárez in 2019, presents a poetic revision of events surrounding the encounter between Cortes and Moctezuma, with Malinche serving as a mediator between two worlds. The project is presented as a drawing-based piece rather than a traditional animated feature. The film employs a sequence of static drawings, while the camera moves through zooming and reframing, accompanied by voice performances from actors including Carmelo Gómez and Marian Álvarez, who share the tale crafted by Suárez.

Malinche’s dream (Gonzalo Suárez, 2019)

Illustrator Pablo Auladell frames the work as a descent into the darker corridors of history. The voices of the characters echo as if trapped within a grand epic, offering a compact meditation on fate and performance. It is noted that these shadows repeatedly enact their gestures, forever bound to the unresolved questions of conquest and memory.

Malinche’s dream premiered at the Prado Museum, marking a significant moment in the intersection of film and graphic storytelling.

Wings of Darkness (Gonzalo Suárez, 2021)

Taking inspiration from a novel, this short work explores the origins of day and night, a Chinese myth about suns, and a grand ascent of beings who shape and transform darkness. Like Malinche’s dream, it is not a straightforward animated piece. Movement is suggested through a sequence of static drawings captured by the director’s camera. Auladell’s illustrations for Wings of Darkness fuse analog and digital techniques, producing richly reproduced pieces in mixed media and high-quality giclee prints.

One of the paintings from Wings of Darkness

In discussing the creation process, Auladell describes his role as a kind of partner to Suárez, a camera that renders the project’s poetic vision. The approach emphasizes scale, scope, and the essence of the project rather than a simple replication of prior methods.

Regarding collaboration with the director, Auladell notes that the artistic process is about entering a poetic world together, sharing responsibility, and maintaining a close, collaborative relationship that respects the artist’s vision while integrating the illustrator’s craft.

Potemkin (Red Fox Books, 2018)

The Potemkin episode begins with a historic mutiny in 1905 aboard a Russian battleship and extends into Eisenstein’s seminal 1925 film, a cornerstone of cinema history studied widely in schools. In 2018, Auladell published a Potemkin graphic work with Red Fox Books, celebrating the artistry of Eisenstein and the monumental impact of the original event. The work highlights the director’s storytelling choices, including metaphor, pacing, and allegory, compiling them into a compelling graphic narrative.

The exhibition presents pages from Potemkin alongside a projection of Eisenstein’s film to illuminate the dialog between the two works. Auladell explains that the publisher aimed to honor the film’s atmosphere and iconic imagery, while allowing the illustrator’s interpretation to stand as a contemporary articulation of the same cinematic energy. The result feels both faithful to the source and freshly resonant.

Pablo Auladell (Alicante, 1972)

Pablo Auladell studied English Philology at the University of Alicante and built a career as a cartoonist and picture-book author. His work often revisits classical texts and modern narratives, while carving out a distinct visual language. He has collaborated with the La Taberna del Ñú Azul creative community and earned recognition for his contributions to comics and illustration, including the National Comics Award in 2016.

Alicante illustrator Pablo Auladell

His published works span a range of genres, from children’s literature to graphic novels. Notable titles include Abandoned Fairground, The Legend of the Holy Drink, Pameos and Meopas, Dorothy, Potemkin, and Archaic Muralis Notebook. He has also illustrated two films by Gonzalo Suárez, Malinche’s dream and Wings of Darkness, with Wings of Darkness receiving a jury prize at a recent festival. Auladell’s latest book adaptation of Malinche, published by Editions de la Cerise, has been selected for prominent international festivals. He also teaches at the Ars Master program in Fabula, Macerata, Italy.