Asif Kapadia closes the “Up” documentary series after 63 years

By Elena Vasquez

The “Up” documentary series launched in 1964; Asif Kapadia directed its final two-part installment after 63 years of footage, and ITV broadcast it in the U.K. last month.

What makes “Up” a television landmark?

Speaking at Rome’s MIA Market on Thursday, Kapadia called the program unmatched in its home market. “In the U.K., this is one of the most important television shows made. There’s nothing [like it],” he said. “It deals with humanity and life. Real people. Ordinary people.”

Kapadia traced the format to “7 Up,” launched with 10 boys and four girls in England, all aged seven. Cameras returned every seven years to trace childhood, adolescence, adulthood, careers, marriage, divorce, parenting and bereavement.

Kapadia said the series’ “ordinary people” in their seventies had stolen his heart.

Kapadia described the program as the longest-running documentary series ever made. It reached 157 countries, including the U.S., Canada, Japan, China, Australia and France. His earlier features include “Senna,” about Formula 1, “Diego Maradona,” about football, and “Amy,” an intimate portrait of singer Amy Winehouse that won the 2016 Oscar for best documentary feature.

Put simply, “Up” turned seven-year interviews into a six-decade record of ordinary lives.

How did Kapadia inherit Michael Apted’s project?

Michael Apted directed every installment except “7 Up.” His work on the series began with the second installment. Apted died in 2021.

Kapadia said he felt “very honored and privileged to have a chance to be a part of it.” He described the assignment: “It was like finishing off something someone had started — just closing the circle.” He added: “It’s a dream job.”

MIA’s head of doc content Marco Spagnoli said that when Apted attended Rome’s MIA Market in 2018, he described the “Up” series as “his life-defining project.”

In practical terms, Kapadia inherited a 60-year project with one clear task: to close its final chapter.

How did Kapadia adapt to television?

Kapadia said he grew up watching “Up” in his North London home, gathered around the television with his parents and siblings. More than four decades later, Kapadia recalled: “someone knocks on the door of my office and says, ‘Are you Asif?’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘Did you make “Senna”?’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘Would you be interested in making the “7 Up” film?’”

He said: “I was very busy working on other things, but there was no way I could say no.” He added: “It’s like a dream.”

Kapadia then faced what he called a television-scale production. “It was essentially a TV budget, which was not a lot of time, not a lot of money. It was very small,” he said.

“We had to do it fast. But what I decided to do — because I can’t help myself — is to go back to the dailies, and to see things that have never been seen that had been filmed previously.”

Kapadia ultimately incorporated footage of “14 characters who have been filmed for 63 years.” He also made Apted a character. “I made him a character as well, because I’m kind of looking at the nature of filmmaking and documentary, which the series in a way created that,” Kapadia said.

The final edit brought overlooked footage and Apted into the original 14-person record.

How did Kapadia judge the final chapter?

Kapadia counted 15 characters across more than 60 years after adding Apted to the original 14. “I’ve got 15 characters over 60 years. It’s a lot of material, so that was the real challenge. But I’m really quite proud of it,” he said.

“It’s quite amazing and profound and beautiful, because of how it somehow covers life. It’s all there somewhere.”

Kapadia’s judgment is that the accumulated footage contains whole lives, not just isolated interviews.

What happens at MIA Market?

MIA Market’s 12th edition runs Oct. 19–23. Kapadia’s conversation with Spagnoli offers a detailed account of the final film’s construction, from Apted’s handover to unseen dailies and the final edit. The series now has a closed narrative; Kapadia’s Rome appearance puts the construction of that ending at the center of discussion.