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Akira KurosawaImage: Wikimedia Commons

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Akira Kurosawa

Japanese filmmaker (1910–1998)

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker who directed 30 feature films in a career spanning six decades. Rashomon (1950) won the Golden Lion at the 1951 Venice Film Festival and opened Western markets to Japanese films. He collaborated with actor Toshiro Mifune on 16 films, and in 1990 he accepted the Academy Honorary Award.

Akira Kurosawa appears in 26 films in The Rerun, from 1943 to 1990. That includes 26 titles as director. Most of that work is in drama, history and crime. Frequent collaborators in The Rerun: Takashi Shimura (19), Toshiro Mifune (15), Kamatari Fujiwara (11), Minoru Chiaki (10), Susumu Fujita (8).

Known for

  • Rashomon (1950), Director. Surprise winner of the Golden Lion at Venice that opened Western markets to Japanese cinema.
  • Seven Samurai (1954), Director. One of the highly regarded films he made in the 1950s, starring Toshiro Mifune.
  • Ikiru (1952), Director. A 1952 drama from his prolific run of roughly a film a year in the 1950s.
  • Yojimbo (1961), Director. A Mifune collaboration that earned the actor the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at Venice.
  • Kagemusha (1980), Director.

Movies

Ran

1985 · Director

Quick answers

When was Akira Kurosawa born?
Akira Kurosawa was born on 23 March 1910.

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