Probably most famous for his epic, THE SEVEN SAMURAI, Akira Kurosawa was often seen as more popular in the West than in his native Japan.
His big breakthrough came with RASHOMON, the film that introduced Western filmmakers to Japanese cinema and spawned an army of imitators and countless remakes.
Following a lean spell in the 1970s Akira Kurosawa returned to filmmaking, reaching his peak with the multiple award winning RAN in 1985, an epic adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear.