Hollywood’s Top Filmmakers & Anaheim University Celebrate Akira Kurosawa’s 100-Year Anniversary
- 3/23/10
“Akira Kurosawa – I have learned more from him than almost any filmmaker on the face of this Earth” said Steven Spielberg during a special video tribute to the late acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa on what would have his 100th birthday. The tribute, which also featured Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, Oliver Stone and Richard Gere, was organized by the Anaheim University Akira Kurosawa School of Film and held during the Green Planet Movie Awards in Los Angeles at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel on March 23, 2010.
The ground-breaking masterpieces of filmmaker, film producer and screenwriter Akira Kurosawa (March 23, 1910 - Sept 6, 1998) have inspired such classic movies as Star Wars, The Magnificent Seven, and A Fistful of Dollars. One of the greatest filmmakers of the 20th century who introduced the west to Japanese cinema, Kurosawa was presented with an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement by Lucas and Spielberg in 1989.
Following a free afternoon screening of the classic Seven Samurai, the evening video tribute featured Anaheim University’s never-seen-before footage of Akira Kurosawa directing Ran on location, while Hollywood’s top filmmakers shared their respect for Kurosawa. Scorsese, who acted as Van Gogh in Kurosawa’s “Dreams” said, “Let me put it simply. Kurosawa was my master…..Akira Kurosawa taught us so much and gave us so much, and I congratulate the Anaheim University Akira Kurosawa School of Film for paying tribute to a man who was our master, our sensei.” Richard Gere, who starred in Kurosawa’s Rhapsody in August called Akira “one of the greatest artists of the 20th century”, while Oliver Stone expressed his sentiments with “I wish Mr. Kurosawa could be here to feel the love and appreciation for his work. I wish he were.”
The 2010 Green Planet Movie Awards, whose International Film Category Theme was “Asian Films” featured Asian entertainment including the Japanese drumming group “Taiko Project” who performed during the 2009 Academy Awards, and Hiroyuki Sanada, star of Last Samurai and ABC’s blockbuster hit “Lost”, was honored as one of the “10 Outstanding Asians in Hollywood” and “10 Best International Actors of the Decade”.
:: Click here to see the Akira Kurosawa 100th Anniversary Tribute