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Arts > Movies > Directors > 20th, 21st century

 

Documentary filmmakers > UK

 

Michael David Apted   1941-2021

 

 

 

 

A scene from “Seven Up!” (1964),

the first in Mr. Apted’s series of “Up” documentaries.

 

On top of the slide, from left,

were Ms. Bassett, Ms. Johnson and Ms. Davis at 7 years old.

 

Photograph: First Run Features

 

Michael Apted, Versatile Director Known for ‘Up’ Series, Dies at 79

His output included “Coal Miner’s Daughter” and a James Bond film.

But he was best known

for his long-running documentary series about life in Britain.

NYT

Published Jan. 8, 2021

Updated Jan. 12, 2021

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/08/
movies/michael-apted-dead.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Michael Apted in 2012.

 

His death last week

left the fate of his decades-long project up in the air.

 

Photograph: Robert Yager

for The New York Times

 

What Happens Now to Michael Apted’s Lifelong Project ‘Up’?

His documentary series chronicled the lives of its subjects

every seven years since 1964.

Now the participants ponder whether it can carry on without him.

NYT

Jan. 14, 2021

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/14/
movies/michael-apted-up-series-future.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Michael David Apted    1941-2021

 

versatile director

whose films were as varied

as the James Bond picture

“The World Is Not Enough”

and the biographical dramas

“Gorillas in the Mist”

and “Coal Miner’s Daughter,”

and who made

his most lasting mark

with the “Up” documentary series,

which followed the lives

of a group of British people

in seven-year intervals

for more than a half century

 

(...)

 

Mr. Apted, who was British,

was a researcher

at Granada Television in England

when he helped pick

the 14 children, all of them 7,

who became the subjects

of “Seven Up!,”

the initial documentary

in the “Up” series,

which was directedby Paul Almond

and shown on British television

in 1964.

 

The film was intended as a one-off,

but Mr. Apted picked up the ball

seven years (more or less) later,

acting as director of “7 Plus Seven,”

broadcast in England in late 1970,

in which he interviewed the same children,

now at a more developed stage of life.

 

Then came “21 Up” in 1977,

“28 Up” in 1984 and so on,

with new installments

arriving every seven years,

all directed by Mr. Apted.

 

“63 Up” was released in 2019.

 

Collectively,

the films are a serial portrait

of a group of ordinary people,

observing them as they advance through life,

from childhood through adulthood,

and charting their different paths,

changing perspectives and various fates

(one participant, Lynn Johnson,

died in 2013).

 

The New York Times in 2019

called it “the most profound

documentary series

in the history of cinema.”

 

The intent

of the original program in 1964

was to look at different segments

of Britain’s class system.

 

Thanks to Mr. Apted’s persistence,

“Up” became something more.

 

“I realized for the first time,

after 20 years on the project,

that I really hadn’t made

a political film at all,”

he wrote in 2000.

 

“What I had seen as a significant statement

about the English class system

was in fact a humanistic document

about the real issues of life.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/08/
movies/michael-apted-dead.html

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/film/
michael-apted

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Michael_Apted

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/27/
nick-hitchon-obituary

 

 

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/14/
movies/michael-apted-up-series-future.html

 

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jan/08/
michael-apted-a-wonderful-film-maker-who-understood-how-class-shapes-us-all

 

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jan/08/
michael-apted-director-seven-up-dies-79

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/08/
movies/michael-apted-dead.html

 

https://www.npr.org/2021/01/08/
955128728/michael-apted-director-of-the-up-documentary-series-dies-at-79

 

 

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/27/
magazine/63-up-michael-apted.html

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/26/
movies/63-up-review.html

 

 

 

 

https://www.npr.org/2013/02/05/
168801423/michael-apted-aging-with-the-7-up-crew

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/04/
movies/56-up-adds-to-michael-apteds-documentary-series.html

 

 

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/05/
movies/05fort.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Documentary films > UK, USA > 1992-2002

 

 

 

 

 

Related > The Guardian > In the director's chair        UK

 

Jason Solomons interviews film-makers on video,

discussing their latest work, career to date and their visions

https://www.theguardian.com/film/series/
inthedirectorschair

 

 

 

 

The Guardian > Documentaries films        UK

https://www.theguardian.com/film/documentary

https://www.theguardian.com/documentaries

 

 

 

 

PBS > Documentaries with a point of view        USA

https://www.pbs.org/pov/

 

 

 

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