I would have never slandered my country, no matter how critical I was to the situation in Czechoslovakia
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Zdeňka Deitchová was born May 18, 1928 in Prague. Her father František Hrachovec worked as a telegrapher for the Czechoslovak Railways. Zdeňka’s mother tragically died in 1935, and Zdeňka’s brother František, who was eight years older, became a second parent to Zdenka. She graduated from the School of Applied Arts in Prague. In 1945 she got a job as an animator in the recently established “Bratři v triku” film studio. Shortly after she began working a production manager, and in 1959 she became the head of the entire studio. While in this position, she was also in charge of the foreign contract work, including the production of films for the American producer William Snyder. She befriended the American director Gene Deitch, who coordinated the preparation Synder’s films in Prague, and in 1964 she married him. As the studio director, she supervised the creation of tens of animated films (including Miler’s Krteček (Little Mole) cartoon series). From 1992 to 2001 she also taught film production at the Animation Department of the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU). She retired from the “Bratři v Triku” film studio (which became incorporated in the Short Film after 1989) in 2005 after sixty years of work. She and her husband Gene Deitch live in Prague.
