Akira Kurosawa
100th Anniversary Film Retrospective
May 14-27 2010

Akira Kurosawa biography

From Stray Dog (1949) to Ran (1985), Akira Kurosawa set the boundaries for world cinema.  His extraordinary career spanned one of Japan's most dramatic centuries, and produced a string of masterpieces, unrivaled in motion picture history.

Born in Tokyo on March 23, 1910, Kurosawa is unquestionably the greatest master of Japanese cinema and an artist whose film legacy has incluenced filmmakers around the world, such as George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Sergio Leone, John Sturges and Martin Ritt. He was recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences numerous times in his long career: an Honorary Award for Best Foriegn Language Film in 1952 for Rashomon, a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 1976 for Dersu Uzala, a nomination for Best Director in 1986 for Ran, and a Special Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990 "for accomplishments that have inspired, delighted, enriched and entertained audiences and influenced filmmakers throughout the world."

Kurosawa stood as a figure larger than life, with a personal history of brilliant achievement won through tenacious and sometimes painfully difficult adherence to his creative and philosophical goals.