UP SERIES

(1964-Now) Director: Michael Apted

DVD
Netflix

SUMMARY:

The Up Series consists of a series of documentary films that have followed the lives of fourteen British children since 1964, when they were seven years old. The children were selected to represent the range of socio-economic backgrounds in Britain at that time, with the explicit assumption that each child's social class predetermines their future. Every seven years, the director, Michael Apted, films new material from as many of the fourteen as he can get to participate. The latest film, 49 Up, was released in September 2005; filming for the next instalment in the series, 56 Up, is expected in late 2011 or early 2012.

VIDEO:

Segment from 49 UP



REVIEWS, INTERVIEWS, CREDITS:

• Interview with Director Michael Apted by Cinematical
• Roger Ebert gives an overview of the series

NOTES:

• The first film in the series, Seven Up!, was directed by Paul Almond, and commissioned by Granada Television as a programme in the World in Action series broadcast in 1964. At the time there was no plan for them to return in seven years time; the second film was made almost as an afterthought, but the pattern of the series was established. From 7 plus Seven onwards the films have been directed by Michael Apted, who had been a researcher on Seven Up! and chose the original children with Gordon McDougall. The premise of the film was taken from the Jesuit motto "Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man," which is based on a quote by Francis Xavier.
• The series has received extraordinary praise over the years, the epitome of which may be Roger Ebert's comment that it is "an inspired, almost noble use, of the film medium." Ebert rates it in his top ten films of all time.
• In 2007 the series was parodied in The Simpsons episode "Springfield Up".