49 UP A Film by Michael Apted 135 minutes, color & b/w, 2005, UK First Run Features 630 Ninth Avenue, Suite 1213 New York, NY 10036 (212) 243-0600/Fax (212) 989-7649 email:
[email protected] www.firstrunfeatures.com SYNOPSIS 49 Up , the latest installment of Granada’s landmark documentary series, revisits the group of people whose lives have been documented since they were seven, to see where they are now as they approach their half century. The original Seven Up was broadcast in 1964 as a one-off World in Action Special featuring children who were selected from different backgrounds and social spheres to talk about their hopes and dreams for the future. As members of the generation who would be running the country by the year 2000, what did they think they would become? Inspired by World in Action founder Tim Hewat’s passionate interest in both the Jesuit saying “Give me the child until he is seven and I will show you the man” and the rigid class system of 1960s Britain, Seven Up set out to discover whether or not the children’s lives were pre-determined by their backgrounds. The result was ground-breaking television – the very first example of a program recording real people living real lives – and the follow-up films have won an array of awards. Director Michael Apted, who has since moved to Hollywood to direct films including Gorky Park , The Coal Miner’s Daughter , The World Is Not Enough and Gorillas in the Mist , has returned every seven years to chart the children’s progress through life.