MICHAEL APTED WITH CAMERIMAGE LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR DIRECTING

Wednesday November 2nd, 2016

Michael Apted became aware of the responsibility that comes with making films early in his career. In 1963, he joined a six-months apprenticeship in Granada Television, starting as a researcher. He was lucky because one of the first projects was Seven Up!, made as a part of the ongoing TV series World in Action and directed by Canadian Paul Almond. The idea behind the documentary was simple: fourteen seven-year-old children from different social backgrounds were to talk about their aspirations and dreams. Apted was one of the two researchers who chose the children. Seven Up! stirred a much-needed debate about the social inequalities in Great Britain, and it became the basis for one of the most extraordinary documentary projects ever, for Apted and Granada decided to continue this experiment every seven years, and it continues to this day. The most recent film, 56 Up, was premiered in 2012, with thirteen out of the initial fourteen kids talking on camera, and adding another chapter to this enormously ambitious cinematic panorama of human life. 63 Up is due in 2019.

Michael Apted,

Michael Apted Archive

This was and still is one of the most hugh profile projects in Apted's career. And what a career it has been! He's done huge Hollywood productions (Bond's The World Is Not Enough, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader), award-winning independent films (Coal Miner's Daughter with Sissy Spacek's Academy Award^®-winning role, Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey with Academy Award^®-nominated performance from Sigourney Weaver), and sociopolitical documentaries (Incident at Oglala about a Sioux activist whose conviction and life sentence for the murder of two FBI agents was deeply suspect, also Moving the Mountain about the tragic student protests at China's Tiananmen Square and their lives 5 years after the event). Before all this happened, though, the future directorial chameleon learned his skills and shaped his artistic sensibility in numerous projects for Granada, which was back then a perfect place to be for a young talent. Among Apted's television work, one can find projects as diverse as episodes of the now-legendary soap opera Coronation Street, to an adaptation of Harold Pinter's The Collection starring Laurence Olivier, Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren.

Still from "Seven Up!"

His feature debut came with the 1972's war drama The Triple Echo, and after Stardust(about the early days of rock and roll in the UK), and The Squeeze (a London based thriller starring Stacy Keach), he was snatched by American producers, who made sure, in the years to follow, that the passionate director was challenged in different areas of cinema. From the 1979 crime drama Agatha, in which Dustin Hoffman investigated the mysterious disappearance of the famous writer Agatha Christie (Vanessa Redgrave), to unconventional tales of strong and meaningful women (Coal Miner's Daughter, Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey, Nell with the Academy Award^®-nominated role of Jodie Foster), as well as a number of genre films (political thriller Gorky Park, legal drama Class Action, comedy Continental Divide). Apted was happy to participate in such diverse projects, as he thought it better to work and develop his skills, even if he might fail once in a while, than to sit and wait for the perfect screenplay to knock on his door. He has made 22 cinema movies.

Still from "Coal Miner's Daughter"

At the same time, he did not lose his curiosity and independence, updating each and every project he worked on with a distinct social message (Thunderheart's tale of the culture, traditions and laws of Native Americans, similar themes that Apted explored in his documentary Incident at Oglala), or deepening his characters in a way that showed his experience as a documentary filmmaker (he convinced the Appalachian residents, who were infuriated with the stereotypical Hollywood's take on their culture, to participate in Coal Miner's Daughter). He was interested primarily in the people in his films; in their joys, sorrows and struggles, in how they deal with different kinds of situations, both fictional and based-on-facts. Apted has shown the same sensitivity towards his characters when he tried his luck within the realm of the “Golden Age of Television”: he launched HBO's Rome, and has recently directed episodes of Ray Donovan and Masters of Sex. But he's never forgotten his commitment to a group of British children in 1964 who have been growing up before his and the millions of viewers' eyes.

Still from "Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey"

Michael Apted devoted his entire life to the art of filmmaking, and his work has influenced countless people all over the world.

As well as his feature and TV projects, he also made the official film of the 2006 FIFA World Cup; was the executive producer on Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula; served three terms as President of the Director's Guild of America (the first non-American to be elected to the job) and tirelessly promotes the art of documentary through his membership in the Documentary Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which he chaired for 4 years. We are honored that such a distinguished and experienced filmmaker will come to Bydgoszcz to receive the Camerimage Lifetime Achievement Award for Directing. Michael Apted has also agreed to preside over the Jury of the Students Etudes Competition, one of the most popular sections of the festival, to which he will add a great deal of film knowledge and prestige.

Still from "56 Up"