1. Akira Kurosawa
Widely regarded as one of the all time greatest directors, Kurosawa enjoyed a five decade career during which he created some of the most influential films ever made. He burst onto the international scene in 1950 when his film Rashomon won the Venice Film Festival's highest prize, shocking critics at the time and introducing Japanese cinema to the rest of the world. Kurosawa directed many more classic films during the 50's and 60's, most notably Seven Samurai which was was the inspiration for seemingly every following action film. Following a group of villagers who hire seven samurai to protect them from raiders, Seven Samuai helped popularize techniques such as the wipe, the use of splitting action scenes into multiple shots, and paying close attention to how a film score went with the images onscreen. Kurosawa's reputation among his fellow filmmakers shows the influence he had. George Lucas drew heavily from Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress, which follows two peasants who unknowingly escort a princess and her general across enemy lines, to create Star Wars and directors such as Bergman and Fellini, despite making very different kinds of films, listed him as one of the greatest directors.
Defining Films: Rashomon (1950), Ikiru (1952), Seven Samurai (1954), The Hidden Fortress (1958), Yojimbo (1961), Ran (1985)