Akira Kurosawa

Akira Kurosawa (黒澤 明 or 黒沢 明, Kurosawa Akira, March 23, 1910 – September 6, 1998) was a Japanese filmmaker and artist, who directed 30 films over a career spanning 57 years. Kurosawa was a prominent figure in the Golden Age of Japanese cinema during the late 40s to the 60s, and is now universally recognized as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Heavily inspired by Western cinema, particularly American Westerns and Film Noir, his cinematic style was nevertheless uniquely his own, demonstrating a distinctive and masterful control of visual composition, narrative, and dramatic elements.

Kurosawa began his career in the Japanese film industry in 1936, a few years before the outbreak of World War II. His directorial debut came in 1943 with the action film Sanshiro Sugata, but he truly came into prominence in the 1950s with the film Rashomon. He directed numerous well-regarded and often adapted films, including Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Ran. He received several prestigious awards and honours from both Japan and across the globe, and his works continue to be highly regarded and regularly studied in film schools worldwide. Towards the end of his life, he faced a number of struggles and controversies, but he never stopped developing ambitious new projects, some of which were made into films posthumously.