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Akira Kurosawa Biography

Akira Kurosawa (黒沢明, Kurosawa Akira, March 23, 1910 – September 6, 1998) was a Japanese film director and screenwriter, who directed 30 films in a career spanning 57 years. He is regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema.

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Akira Kurosawa Quotes

It is the power of memory that gives rise to the power of imagination.

Memories, Giving, Imagination, Gives, Memory

To be an artist means never to avert one's eyes.

Art, Artist, Avert, Eye, Eyes, Mean

Movie directors, or should I say people who create things, are very greedy and they can never be satisfied. . . That's why they can keep on working. I've been able to work for so long because I think next time, I'll make something good.

Directors, Film Directing, Greedy, Movie, Say, Thinking

If I were to write anything at all, it would turn out to be nothing but talk about movies. In other words, take 'myself,' subtract 'movies,' and the result is 'zero. '

Results, Subtract, Talk, Turn, Writing, Zero

Man is a genius when he is dreaming.

Dream, Dreaming, Genius, Inspiring, Man, Men

I have no idea who the characters are, later, their personalities take over anything I might want to do. I end up writing not from my own will, but from theirs-they come alive as I write and make me do things that I couldn't have planned.

Writing, Character, Ideas, Alive, Planned, Characters

People today have forgotten they're really just a part of nature. Yet, they destroy the nature on which our lives depend. They always think they can make something better. . . They don't know it, but they're losing nature. They don't see that they're going to perish. The most important things for human beings are clean air and clean water.

Air, Depend, Destroy, Nature, People, Thinking

The films an audience really enjoys are the ones that were enjoyable in the making. Yet pleasure in the work can’t be achieved unless you know you have put all of your strength into it and have done your best to make it come alive. A film made in this spirit reveals the hearts of the crew.

Achieved, Alive, Done, Heart, Know

I am not a special person, I am not especially strong; I am not especially gifted. I simply do not like to show my weakness, and I hate to lose, so I am a person who tries hard. That's all there is to me.

Strong, Hate, Special, Tries, Show

Human beings share the same common problems. A film can only be understood if it depicts these properly.

Common, Depicts, Film Directing, Problem, Problems

Take me, subtract movies, and you get zero.

Zero, Take Me, Movies, Subtract, Take

Page 61: No matter where I go in the world, although I can't speak any foreign language, I don't feel out of place. I think of earth as my home. If everyone thought this way, people might notice just how foolish international friction is and the would be put an end to it.

Foolish, Foreign, Home, People, Thinking, World

Although human beings are incapable of talking about themselves with total honesty, it is much harder to avoid the truth while pretending to be other people. They often reveal much about themselves in a very straightforward way. I am certain that I did. There is nothing that says more about its creator than the work itself.

Honesty, Nothing, People, Talking, Total

Something that you should take particular notice of is the fact that the best scripts have very few explanatory passages. Adding explanation to the descriptive passages of a screenplay is the most dangerous trap you can fall into. It’s easy to explain the psychological state of a character at a particular moment, but it’s very difficult to describe it through the delicate nuances of action and dialogue. Yet it is not impossible. A great deal about this can be learned from the study of the great plays, and I believe the ‘hard-boiled’ detective novels can also be very instructive.

Believe, Character, Fall, Instructive, Study, Trap

There is nothing that says more about its creator than the work itself.

Creator, Nothing, Says, Work

If you look at everything straight on, there is nothing to be afraid of.

Afraid, Everything, Ifs, Looks, Nothing, Straight

When I start on a film I always have a number of ideas about my project. Then one of them begins to germinate, to sprout, and it is this, which I take and work with. My films come from my need to say a particular thing at a particular time. The beginning of any film for me is this need to express something. It is to make it nurture and grow that I write my script- it is directing it that makes my tree blossom and bear fruit.

Writing, Ideas, Numbers, Project, Films, Grow

I suppose all of my films have a common theme. If I think about it, though, the only theme I can think of is really a question: Why can’t people be happier together?

Happier, People, Thinking, Together

I can’t afford to hate anyone. I don’t have that kind of time.

Afford, Hate, I Can, Kind, Time

To be an artist means to search, to find and look at these realities. To be an artist means to never look away.

Artist, Away, Look, Mean, Reality, Search

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