Quinografía is a documentary by Curandero Producciones (Argentina) and El Gatoverde Producciones (Spain) in 2023 that does not yet have a theatrical release date, but is expected before the end of the year.
This 70-minute international co-production is directed by Mariano Dosono and Federico Cardone, with script by Mariana Guzzante and the support of INCAA (Argentina), ICAA (Spain) and has been acquired by RTVE.
The work deals with Quino's life, with images and unpublished testimonies, to give an account of the environment in which he forged his creativity.
This documentary comes on the heels of another great work on the figure of Quino, the 4-chapter Argentinean docuseries Releyendo a Mafalda, which premiered last year and which focused more on his characters. Now the focus is on the figure of Quino from a much more personal point of view.
Synopsis (Source)
Marcela is a visual artist who, during her insomnia, tries to repair the old house in which she has lived alone since she was widowed. While fixing a pipe, an unpublished archive reappears: a meticulous collection of objects, photographs, records, memories and drawings treasured by her father-in-law, Joaquín Tejón. The uncle who adopted Quino when his parents died.
Few people know that, beyond being the author of the universal strip Mafalda, Quino was born in a humble house in Guaymallén, in Mendoza, that his parents died when he was a teenager, that his famous rebellious girl was inspired by his grandmother Teté, a daring and rebellious militant of the communist party, that he went into exile in 1976 after an attack by the Triple A, and that he was an incurable music lover. Deeply shy and sensitive, Joaquín Lavado Tejón was reluctant to give intimate interviews.
Together with Cate, a young designer who explores the electronic arts, Marcela decides to digitise the material and call together the rest of her family and friends to create a visual and sound project. They plan to incorporate it into the Quino Museum to be built in Mendoza.
As the creative friendship progresses, these artists from different generations begin to engage with the material until they discover the finer lines: the losses, the visions, the premonitory dreams, the phobias and the inner wink behind the little man in the glasses.
This documentary seeks to retrace Quino's biography from his origins, gathering testimonies from his uncles, brothers, nephews, friends, to give an account of the environment in which his creativity was forged and the experiences that moulded his character. It also traces the significant spaces of this adult child who, after becoming a celebrity and travelling around the world, returned to his homeland, now a widower and almost blind, to say goodbye in the pandemic spring of 2020.
Quinography also attempts to reflect on the artistic ways of approaching an archive, on the way in which the present and the past dialogue, under a Mafaldian certainty: adults have no idea what they are doing with the world.
