The Official Homepage for 49 Up

49 Up is the seventh installment in the widely celebrated series which began just over 42 years ago with the seminal film 7 Up. In 1962, Michael Apted assisted then-director Paul Almond as he interviewed a group of economically, racially and culturally diverse seven-year-olds living in England. He asked about their lives and their hopes for the future, and caught up with them every seven years to repeat the process. Now, over four decades and six films later, Apted returns to his subjects once again (two have since dropped out of the project), finding them at age 49. Devoted viewers will be happy to reunite with characters who feel like old friends - the good-natured cab driver, Tony; the soft-spoken boarding school boy, Bruce; and Neil, who at 28 was seen wandering the highlands, homeless and verging on insanity. But the film is also a rare treat for those encountering the series for the first time, as it artfully weaves into the contemporary images footage from years past, as far back as the 1964 original, creating a potent dialogue between articulations of the past, realities of the present, and projections into the future. The initial intention of the project was to make a polemic about class, and to show how the trajectory of a life is largely determined by economic background. And to a great extent the 7 Up series does provide evidence of this. But not entirely. It is also filled with surprises. But above all, the film is about the dreams of youth and the journey towards acceptance when those dreams come to pass. (Sky Sitney, Silverdocs)

"Amazing... the spectacle, as in time-lapse photography, of human beings taking shape before our eyes." (Vogue)

"One of the towering achievements in the history of documentary film." (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Quicktime Trailer @ Apple.com