Akira Kurosawa

Akira Kurosawa (March 23, 1910 – September 6, 1998) was a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 films in a career spanning 57 years. Rashomon, which premiered in Tokyo in August 1950, was the surprise winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1951 and was subsequently released in Europe and North America. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, Kurosawa directed approximately a film a year, including a number of highly regarded films such as Ikiru (1952), Seven Samurai (1954) and Yojimbo (1961). In 1990, he accepted the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement.