Zet Molas | |
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 Molas in a promotional image from the film The Miller and His Child | |
| Born | Zdena Holubová (1896-03-18)18 March 1896 |
| Died | 1956 (aged 59–60) |
| Occupations | Film director, actress, critic, and screenwriter |
| Style | Avant-garde |
Zet Molas (bornZdena Holubová, married nameZdenka Smolová; 18 March 1896 – 1956) was a Czech avant-garde film director, actress, critic and screenwriter. She was the third ever female Czech director.
Molas was born in the area of Pražské Předměstí ofHradec Králové inBohemia,Austria-Hungary, in 1896 to a middle-classrailway clerk,[1] and spent part of her childhood inVienna. She attended theAcademy of Arts, Architecture and Design inPrague, under the sculptorOtakar Španiel. There, she studied poetry as well as theater. After her time at the AAAD, she studied at theÉcole des Beaux-Arts inParis.[2]
Molas began her career in film after returning to Prague, where she funded her first film,Závěť podivínova, thanks to her husband Bohumil Smol, who was a businessman. After the film was completed, she began work in France on an adaptation of theThéophile Gautier novelMademoiselle De Maupin, on which she was to star as well as write and direct. However, the production ran into problems and Molas returned to Prague.[1]
Back in Prague, she became editor-in-chief and publisher for the magazineČeský filmový svět (Czech Film World), where she wrote and published articles on the subject of film and the arts, including a number of contributions from members of the left-wing associationDevětsil. She and her husband co-owned and managed the magazine from 1926 to 1927.
Molas was the owner of a production company named Molas-film. During her tenure as editor-in-chief of the magazine, a number of films were announced but stalled in production, including another adaptation ofMademoiselle De Maupin calledŽeny nedohledáš (You Won’t Find the Women), Hříšnice a zákon (The Sinner and the Law), Karneval (Carnival),[3] andMilostná mámení (Love Seductions), an adaptation of a play byFrank Tetauer [cs].
In 1928, she finally made a comeback to the film industry withMlynář a jeho dítě(the Miller and His Child), an adaptation of a play byErnst Raupach. The film, which contains supernatural elements, is considered to be the first Czech foray intosurrealism in film.[1] In 1930, she created the moviePancéřové auto(Armored Car), an action crime comedy. Afterwards, she went to Germany, Italy and France to study.[1] She made a comeback in the film industry in 1936–1937 with screenwriting forMiroslav Cikán’s comedyLojzička (1936), and with her most important work,Karel Hynek Mácha, a biography. The film lacked the avant-garde approach of Molas' previous work, being a more typical epic drama with large setpieces, the largest constructions to have ever been used in Czech film to that date.[1] The film received praise from the press.
AfterKarel, Molas wrote a number of screenplays. However, she never returned to directing. Under theGermany Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, Molas and her husband aligned with the German occupation. Her husband served as the Secretary of the Film Division of the Reich Protectorate Office and supervised theAryanization of the Adria Theater. AfterWorld War II, she was forced to resettle inWest Germany, where she died in obscurity.
She died in 1956.[2]
Molas' first married name was Grossman, after which she divorced and married her second husband, Bohumil Smol. The two lived inPrague.[4]
In 1925, she had an affair with poetVítězslav Nezval, who published a number of works in the magazine she edited,Český filmový svět.
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