Paul de Mol

Biography

Paul de Mol is originally a visual artist, and worked in the mid-1960s with the Haarlem-based group Ateliers ‘63, of which Frans Zwartjes was also a member. As an artist, De Mol was interested in film, and in 1971 he enrolled at the Vrije Academie Psychopolis in The Hague, where he again worked with Frans Zwartjes, first as a student and later as a teacher.

His first films are typical examples of the ‘Hague School’, a group of students gathered around Zwartjes whose work was strongly influenced by Zwartjes’ films. These are films in which the ‘investigating’ is key.

In addition to being a filmmaker, De Mol has also been very active as a promoter of experimental film. For example, he was a co-organizer of the retrospective exhibition entitled Het experiment in de Nederlandse film that was presented at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in 1985. De Mol also works as a teacher, and has been teaching for several years at the Academie voor Beeldende Vorming in Tilburg.