Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa (黒澤 明) was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. He displayed a bold, dynamic style, strongly influenced by Western cinema yet distinct from it; he was involved with all aspects of film production. Kurosawa entered the Japanese film industry in 1936, following a brief stint as a painter. After years of working on numerous films as an assistant director and scriptwriter, he made his debut as a director during World War II with the popular action film Sanshiro Sugata (1943). After the war, the critically acclaimed Drunken Angel (1948), in which Kurosawa cast the then little-known actor Toshiro Mifune in a starring role, cemented the director's reputation as one of the most important young filmmakers in Japan. The two men would go on to collaborate on another fifteen films. Rashomon (1950), which premiered in Tokyo, became the surprise winner of the Golden Lion at the 1951 Venice Film Festival. The commercial and critical success of that film opened up Western film markets for the first time to the products of the Japanese film industry, which in turn led to international recognition for other Japanese filmmakers. Kurosawa directed approximately one film per year throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, including a number of highly regarded (and often adapted) films, such as Ikiru (1952), Seven Samurai (1954), Throne of Blood (1957), Yojimbo (1961) and High and Low (1963). After the 1960s he became much less prolific; even so, his later work—including two of his final films, Kagemusha (1980) and Ran (1985)—continued to receive great acclaim. In 1990, he accepted the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement. Posthumously, he was named Asian of the Century in the Arts, Literature, and Culture category by AsianWeek magazine and CNN, cited there as being among the five people who most prominently contributed to the improvement of Asia in the 20th century. His career has been honored by many retrospectives, critical studies and biographies in both print and video, and by releases in many consumer media.
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'Ran'
(Self)
Kurosawa
(Self)
A Message from Akira Kurosawa: For Beautiful Movies
(Self)
Making of Ran
(Self)
A. K.
(Self)
Making of 'Dreams'
(Self)
Akira Kurosawa: My Life in Cinema
(Self)
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'Throne of Blood'
(Self)
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'The Hidden Fortress'
(Self)
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'Kagemusha'
(Self)
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'The Lower Depths'
(Self)
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'Yojimbo'
(Self)
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'Sanjuro'
(Self)
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'High and Low'
(Self)
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'Seven Samurai'
(Self)
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'Dodes'ka-den'
(Self)
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'Stray Dog'
(Self)
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'The Bad Sleep Well'
(Self)
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'Drunken Angel'
(Self)
The World of Kazuo Miyagawa
(Self)
What Is Cinema?
(Self)
In Love With and Living Within Movies - Akira Kurosawa and Hayao Miyazaki
(Self)
Babenco: Tell Me When I Die
(Self (archive footage))
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'Ikiru'
(Self)
Searching For Kurosawa
Black Baby
(Self (archive footage))
Spécial cinéma
(Self)
Seven Samurai
(Director)
Seven Samurai
(Screenplay)
The Hidden Fortress
(Editor)
The Hidden Fortress
(Screenplay)
The Hidden Fortress
(Producer)
The Hidden Fortress
(Director)
Rashomon
(Director)
Rashomon
(Editor)
Rashomon
(Screenplay)
Stray Dog
(Writer)
Stray Dog
(Director)
I Live in Fear
(Story)
I Live in Fear
(Director)
Throne of Blood
(Editor)
Throne of Blood
(Director)
Ikiru
(Director)
Throne of Blood
(Producer)
Ikiru
(Screenplay)
Ikiru
(Editor)
Throne of Blood
(Screenplay)
Red Beard
(Director)
Rhapsody in August
(Director)
Rhapsody in August
(Editor)
Ran
(Screenplay)
Ran
(Director)
Ran
(Editor)
Yojimbo
(Director)
Yojimbo
(Editor)
Yojimbo
(Screenplay)
Yojimbo
(Producer)
Sanjuro
(Screenplay)
Kagemusha
(Director)
Kagemusha
(Screenplay)
Kagemusha
(Producer)
Sanjuro
(Director)
Sanjuro
(Editor)
The Idiot
(Director)
The Idiot
(Editor)
The Bad Sleep Well
(Producer)
The Bad Sleep Well
(Editor)
Drunken Angel
(Director)
Drunken Angel
(Writer)
The Bad Sleep Well
(Director)
The Bad Sleep Well
(Writer)
Scandal
(Director)
High and Low
(Screenplay)
High and Low
(Director)
The Lower Depths
(Producer)
The Lower Depths
(Editor)
The Lower Depths
(Director)
Dreams
(Director)
Dreams
(Screenplay)
Dersu Uzala
(Director)
Dodes'ka-den
(Screenplay)
Dodes'ka-den
(Director)
Sanshiro Sugata
(Director)
The Sea Is Watching
(Screenplay)
Madadayo
(Director)
The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail
(Director)
The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail
(Writer)
No Regrets for Our Youth
(Editor)
No Regrets for Our Youth
(Writer)
No Regrets for Our Youth
(Director)
After the Rain
(Writer)
The Quiet Duel
(Writer)
The Quiet Duel
(Director)
One Wonderful Sunday
(Director)
Sanshiro Sugata Part Two
(Director)
The Most Beautiful
(Director)
The Last Princess
(Original Story)
Vendetta of a Samurai
(Writer)
Wrestling-Ring Festival
(Writer)
Avalanche
(Second Unit)
Saga of the Vagabonds
(Writer)
Tsubaki Sanjuro
(Writer)
Sanshiro Sugata
(Writer)
Horse
(Assistant Director)
Composition Class
(Assistant Director)
Tojuro's Love
(Assistant Director)
Advance Patrol
(Screenplay)
Tomorrow I'll Be a Fire-Tree
(Screenplay)
Easy Alley
(Assistant Director)
Enoken's Surprising Life
(Assistant Director)
Enoken’s Shrewd Period
(Assistant Director)
Tomorrow I'll Be a Fire-Tree
(Editor)
Currents of Youth
(Story)
Subterranean Heat
(Assistant Director)
Japanese Women's Textbook
(Third Assistant Director)
The Admirable Isshin Tasuke!
(Screenplay)
Runaway Train
(Original Film Writer)
Dora-heita
(Screenplay)
Song of the Horse
(Director)
Vanished Enlisted Man
(Screenplay)
Seven Samurai
(Editor)
Living
(Original Film Writer)
Snow Trail
(Screenplay)
Fencing Master
(Adaptation)
World of Love
(Writer)
The Fencing Master
(Screenplay)
Highest 2 Lowest
(Original Film Writer)
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
(Thanks)
The Portrait
(Screenplay)
Saga of the Vagabonds, Part Two: Forward at Dawn
(Third Assistant Director)
Jiruba no Tetsu
(Screenplay)
Ran
(Storyboard Artist)
Kagemusha
(Storyboard Artist)
Madadayo
(Storyboard Artist)
Dreams
(Storyboard Artist)
Ikiru
(Screenplay)
The Magnificent Seven
(Original Film Writer)
Red Beard
(Screenplay)
Wings of Victory
(Writer)
Beyond Love and Hate
(Screenplay)
Sanshiro Sugata
(Editor)
Sword for Hire
(Screenplay)
Kagemusha
(Editor)
The Magnificent Seven
(Original Film Writer)
Last Man Standing
(Original Film Writer)
High and Low
(Original Film Writer)
Stray Dog
(Original Story)
Jakoman and Tetsu
(Screenplay)
Stray Dog
(Associate Producer)
High and Low
(Associate Producer)
Madadayo
(Editor)
The Last Day of Hsianyang
(Original Film Writer)
A Fistful of Dollars Remake
(Original Film Writer)
High and Low
(Editor)
Red Beard
(Editor)
Scandal
(Screenplay)
The Most Beautiful
(Writer)
Sanshiro Sugata
(Screenplay)
Play of the Week: Rashomon
(Original Film Writer)
Rhapsody in August
(Screenplay)
The Den of Beasts
(Screenplay)
Sanshiro Sugata Part Two
(Screenplay)
The Outrage
(Original Story)
Dodes'ka-den
(Executive Producer)
Saga of the Vagabonds, Part One: Tiger and Wolf
(Third Assistant Director)
The Lower Depths
(Screenplay)
One Wonderful Sunday
(Screenplay)
Saga of the Vagabonds
(Script)
Madadayo
(Screenplay)
A Fistful of Dollars
(Original Story)
Escape at Dawn
(Screenplay)
The Idiot
(Screenplay)
Dersu Uzala
(Screenplay)
Four Love Stories
(Screenplay)
Lady From Hell
(Writer)
My Wonderful Yellow Car
(Screenplay)
Enoken’s Ten Millions
(Third Assistant Director)
Enoken’s Ten Millions Sequel
(Third Assistant Director)
Sanshiro Sugata
(Producer)
Jakoman and Tetsu
(Writer)
Paradise of the Virgin Flowers
(Assistant Director)
Roppa's Honeymoon
(Assistant Director)
Horse
(Writer)
Avalanche
(Assistant Director)
Those Who Make Tomorrow
(Director)
The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail
(Screenplay)
The Beautiful Hawk
(Assistant Director)
Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo
(Original Concept)
Tokyo Rhapsody
(Third Assistant Director)
A Husband's Chastity: If Spring Comes & Fall Once Again
(Third Assistant Director)
Enoken's Chikiri Kinta Part 2 – Returning Is Scary, but the Weather Will Clear If You Wait
(Third Assistant Director)
Enoken's Chikiri Kinta Part 1 – Momma, the Hat: The Nice Way
(Third Assistant Director)
A Husband's Chastity: Fall Again
(Third Assistant Director)
A Husband's Chastity: If Spring Comes
(Third Assistant Director)
Flirtation in Spring
(Producer)
Legacy of the 500,000
(Editor)
At the Gate of the Ghost
(Original Story)
Enoken's Cropped Hair
(Assistant Director)
The Monkey King
(Assistant Director)
Runaway Train
(Story)
Image: Kurosawa's Continuity
(Concept Artist)
Image: Kurosawa's Continuity
(Original Story)
Return of the Seven
(Original Concept)
Guns of the Magnificent Seven
(Original Concept)
The Magnificent Seven Ride!
(Original Concept)
Battle Beyond the Stars
(Original Story)
Song of the Horse
(Writer)
Samurai 7
(Original Concept)