Filming began last night at Holyoke Center for "The Little Sister," a public television film about a parasite officer's affair with a paroles who is also having an affair with her father.

Last night's scheme took place in from of the Au Bon Pain cafe and featured Harvard Square fire jugglers. Another scene using Phillips Brooks House at a private girl's high school will be filmed in December, Harvard spokesman Manger M. Heffron said yesterday.

Harvard officials allowed the filming of the American Playhouse production because they have worked with Emmy Award-winning writer-director Jan Egleson before, Heffron said.

A recent policy change requires that filming on the Harvard campus be for a production that is educational or requires Harvard as a backdrop to be successful artistically.

Egleson said yesterday that the movie--his third film to be shot at Harvard--is educational because it deals with children who have grown up in Cambridge housing projects.

Egleson added that his previous films, which also touched on the projects, have been used by Phillips Brooks House for educational purposes.

The film's contract was also accepted because" it doesn't disrupt Harvard activity and it looks like a serious project," Heffron said.

Egleson is renting the space from Harvard for several hundred dollars, said March Levity, the film's location manager, who refused to give a specific figure.

"The Little Sister" stars John Savage, who appeared in "The Deer Hunter." It will show in movie theaters before it appears on the Public Broadcasting System, Egleson said.