Francine Parker

Francine Parker

Francine Parker (December 18, 1925 – November 8, 2007) was an American television and film director, who was one of the first female members of the Directors Guild of America. cite news |first=Valerie J.|last=Nelson|title= Francine Parker; directed controversial 'FTA' |url=http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2007/11/20/francine_parker_directed_controversial_fta|work= Los Angeles Times |publisher=Boston Globe |date=2007-11-20|accessdate=2007-11-28] Parker was best known for her controversial documentary, "FTA", which chronicled the antiwar entertainers tour, Free The Army tour (FTA), during the Vietnam War. The FTA tour and its documentary featured anti-Vietnam War celebrities Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland interacting very frankly with American soldiers. Parker's film, which was released in 1972, was pulled from theaters within weeks of its release due to heavy citicism. It has been rarely viewed since 1972.

Early life

Francine Parker was born in New York City as Francine Schoenholtz on December 18 1925. She received her bachelor's degree from Smith College and her master's degree in theater directing from Yale School of Drama. Parker first arrived in Los Angeles in 1950.

FTA

Francine Parker's documentary of the Free The Army tour condensed weeks worth of footage and traveling into a ninety minute film. This film did feature anti-war celebrities, such as Jane Fonda, but much of the screen time was also devoted to the reactions disillusioned American servicemen. Parker filmed "FTA" as she traveled with the tour onto American military bases in the eastern Pacific. Like the tour, FTA stood for Free The Army, though the thousands of soldiers featured in the film and the tour often used profanities when repeating the title. The film was co-produced by Francine Parker, Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland.

Parker's film debuted in 1972, the same week that actress Jane Fonda controversially visited Hanoi, the capital of North Vietnam. However, the film was pulled from theaters by American International Pictures just weeks later under what fellow filmmaker David Zeiger called "questionable circumstances."

"FTA" was screened years later at a Directors Guild of America screening in 2005. At the screening, director Oliver Stone said that Francine Parker had concluded that "calls were made from high up in Washington, possibly from the Nixon White House, and the film just disappeared." Jane Fonda also commented after viewing the film in 2005 that, "I must say, looking at it now, it's no wonder," that the film was pulled from theaters.

Director David Zeiger incoprorated footage from Parker's film into his own 2005 film, "Sir! No Sir!", which explored the anti-war movement spearheaded by soldiers in the 1960s and 1970s. Zeiger called Parker's film "a lost classic that has real resonance today."

"FTA" was screened again at the International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam on November 22 2007. Francine Parker had been scheduled to attend before her death earlier in the same month.

Career

Francine Parker was considered an anomally when she began her career, because there were so few female film directors working in the industry. She was considered such a novelty that producers of the early 1960s television show "What's My Line?" asked her to appear on the show because they were sure that the panelists would never believe that a woman would be a television director. However, the show was canceled by the network before Parker could appear.

Parker produced a series of one hour plays for PBS called "Jews and History" in 1966. The film series explored the contributions of Jews to the arts throughout history. In a review of "Jews and History" the "Los Angeles Times" seemed astounded of the, "odds of a female producer selling anthologized culture on television."

Parker was the eleventh woman to join the Directors Guild of America when she was inducted as a member in 1971. Taught film directing at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, for 18 years.

She helped found and became president of the Women for Equality in Media. As president, she led 1971 a march on the American Film Institute for its lack of women in AFI programs that were partially funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. The AFI responded. The number of women admitted to the AFI's Center for Advance Film Studies rose from zero in 1969 to seven women by 1973.

Death

Francine Parker died of heart failure on November 8 2007, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, aged 81.

External links

*imdb name|id=0662242|name=Francine Parker
* [http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2007/11/20/francine_parker_directed_controversial_fta/ Boston Globe: Francine Parker; directed controversial 'FTA']
* [http://www.einsiders.com/features/columns/nov07obituaries.php Obituary]

References


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Molly Parker — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Parker. Molly Parker …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Dawn of the Dead — Filmdaten Deutscher Titel: Zombie / Zombie – das Original / Zombies im Kaufhaus Originaltitel: Dawn of the Dead Produktionsland: USA Erscheinungsjahr: 1978 Länge: 156 Minuten Originalsprache …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Zombie (Film) — Filmdaten Deutscher Titel Zombie / Zombie – das Original / Zombies im Kaufhaus Originaltitel Dawn of the Dead …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Zombie – Dawn of the Dead — Filmdaten Deutscher Titel: Zombie / Zombie – das Original / Zombies im Kaufhaus Originaltitel: Dawn of the Dead Produktionsland: USA Erscheinungsjahr: 1978 Länge: 156 Minuten Originalsprache …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Donald Sutherland — en 2005 Données clés Naissance 17  …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Free The Army tour — The FTA Tour ( Free The Army , a play on the troop expression Fuck The Army , which in turn was a play on the army slogan Fun, Travel and Adventure ) was an anti Vietnam War road show designed as a response to Bob Hope s USO tour. It was first… …   Wikipedia

  • Resistance Inside the Army — The abbreviation or accronym RITA (sometimes written in low case, rita ) stands for Resistance Inside the Army , Resister Inside the Army , or Resist ! inside the Army . It was first invented by the American Private Richard (Dick) Perrin, RA… …   Wikipedia

  • Deaths in November 2007 — Contents 1 November 2007 1.1 30 1.2 29 1.3 28 …   Wikipedia

  • Scream-Queen — Die Scream Queen („Schreikönigin“) ist ein wichtiges Element des Horror und Actionfilms: Die schreiende Frau in einer überzeichneten Opferrolle. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Herkunft und Bedeutung 2 Das Gegenteil 3 Scream Queens …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Scream Queen — Die Scream Queen („Schreikönigin“) ist ein wichtiges Element des Horror und Actionfilms: Die schreiende Frau in einer überzeichneten Opferrolle. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Herkunft und Bedeutung 2 Das Gegenteil 3 Berühmte Scream Queens 4 B Movie Scream …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”