Several Samurai
Please note : this season finished in July 2025
We’re marking the 40th anniversary of Ran (1985), Akira Kurosawa’s epic take on King Lear, by screening some of his great Chanbara (swordfighting) classics – ranging from the highly influential Seven Samurai (1954), through to another of his later masterpieces, Kagemusha (1980).
Focussing on three decades out of a filmmaking career that spanned more than 50 years, Kurosawa’s influence spreads far, and wide, from being the inspiration for many classic American Westerns like the Magnificent Seven or A Fistful of Dollars, or even to sci-fi - famously a key inspiration for George Lucas’ Star Wars.
Over the course of his lengthy, prolific career, Kurosawa cemented himself as one of cinema's greatest directors, painting on colossal cinematic canvases while still finding the small and beautiful human moments in every tale. Join us throughout June and July to explore several Samurai-featuring works from this incomparable filmmaker.
“The term 'giant' is used too often to describe artists. But in the case of Akira Kurosawa, we have one of the rare instances where the term fits.” – Martin Scorsese
This season has been co-curated by Jojo Myers-Insole, one of our 16-19 Film Club hosts.
