Biography

Morten Parker (July 29, 1919 – May 26, 2014) was a Canadian director, producer and writer. Parker was born and raised in a Jewish family in Winnipeg, Manitoba, attended the University of Winnipeg and began his career as a journalist. In 1942, his girlfriend, filmmaker Gudrun Bjerring, was hired by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). The two moved to Ottawa and, in 1947, Parker was also hired by the NFB. They married in 1944 (after which Bjerring became known as the filmmaker Gudrun Parker). They made several films together, notably The Stratford Adventure (1954), which was nominated for an Oscar.Parker directed, produced and/or wrote 35 films for the NFB. His interest lay in social and labour justice, and he was responsible for films in the NFB's Labour in Canada series (1953–54) and 1958's The Nature of Work series. He also directed The Fight: Science Against Cancer, which was nominated for an Oscar in 1951. Also in 1951, an independent film called Inondations, which he co-directed with Al Stark, was presented at the Cannes Film Festival.In 1963, Parker left the NFB and, with Gudrun, formed Parker Film Associates, through which Parker made three films with his friend and NFB colleague, the producer and cinematographer John Spotton. The Parkers then moved to New York, where Morten became an adjunct associate professor of film studies at the New York University School of Professional Studies. He also taught film studies at The City University of New York, and served as the Special Advisor on Communications to the Prime Minister of Jamaica, the UNESCO Film Advisor to the State of Israel, and the United Nations Expert in Film Production.