The films of Akira Kurosawa, one of cinema’s greatest auteurs, have had a profound effect on audiences around the world, and his acclaimed samurai epics – featuring international star Toshiro Mifune – have inspired filmmakers as diverse as George Lucas and Sergio Leone.
On 7 June the BFI will release the Kurosawa Samurai Collection, a 5-disc DVD box set containing Seven Samurai (1954), Throne of Blood (1957), The Hidden Fortress (1958), Yojimbo (1961) and Sanjuro (1962).
This box set is released alongside BFI Southbank’s Akira Kurosawa and His Influence, a season running throughout June, which marks the centenary of Kurosawa’s birth with a season of films made by both the seminal filmmaker himself and those he has influenced. It includes an Extended Run of Rashomon (1951).
