De la Parra was born in
Paramaribo and is partly of
Portuguese-Jewish descent. He was educated at the
Netherlands Film Academy. He became an editorial board member of the film magazine
Skoop from 1963 which had been established by other students of the Academy. He co-produced
Blue Movie (1971) by Wim Verstappen, which was one of the most erotic movies of its time, showing nudity with a realism that confounded critics and censorship authorities. It was followed by
Frank en Eva (1973),
Alicia (1974),
Dakota (1975) and
Mijn Nachten met Susan, Olga, Albert, Julie, Piet & Sandra (1975), these four films forming an erotic tetralogy written with
Charles Gormley. In 1976, he directed
Wan Pipel, the first film shot entirely with actors from Suriname. De la Parra had two daughters: the actress (born 1963) and the comedian (born 1987). His son, Pimm Jal (born 1966) died in 2002. De la Parra died in
Paramaribo on 6 September 2024, at the age of 84. ==Select filmography==