Michael Apted

Biography: After directing British television in the late 1960's, Apted began helming theatrical features in 1973 with the transvestite drama The Triple Echo, adapted from H.E. Bates' novel. An eclectic director, Apted has done impressive work in comedy (Continental Divide, Kipperbang), mystery (Agatha), biopic (Coal Miner's Daughter, Gorillas In The Mist), thriller (Gorky Park, Thunderheart), and documentaries (Bring On The Night, Incident At Oglala). Apted is especially admired for his ongoing series of documentaries, which began in the mid 1960s when he assisted on a television documentary that interviewed fourteen seven-year-old children from a range of social classes. Apted has returned to look in on their lives at ages 14, 21, and 28, cutting his footage together for the 1984 theatrical feature 28 Up; in 1991 he released 35 Up.