The SAMURAI Award has been launched to commend achievements of filmmaker who continues to create groundbreaking films that carve out a path to a new era. Takeshi Kitano and Tim Burton are the first recipients of the award!
 
Recipients
 
Takeshi Kitano

Born in Tokyo in 1947, and made his directorial debut with Violent Cop in 1989. In 1997, he won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival with his Fireworks. It was the first time for a Japanese film to win the award in 39 years. In 1999, Kikujiro was officially entered in the Competition section of the Cannes Film Festival. He was also the special professor of the Graduate School of Visual Arts and the head of films at the Tokyo University of the Arts between 2005 and 2008. At the 64th Venice International Film Festival in 2007, a new award, Glory to the Filmmaker!, was established, named after the film, Glory to the Filmmaker!, directed by Kitano. In 2008 he was given the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 30th Moscow International Film Festival. His filmography includes: A Scene at the Sea (1991); Sonatine (1993); Kids Return (1996); Brother (2001); Zatoichi (2003); Outrage (2010) and Outrage Beyond (2012).
 
 

Tim Burton

Tim Burton made his directorial debut in 1982 with the short black and white stop-motion animation Vincent as an animator at Disney Studios. After leaving Disney, he made his feature film debut with Pee-wee’s Big Adventure in 1985. He has continued to attract fans with his ingenious visual and artistic sense demonstrated in films including Edward Scissorhands, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Alice in Wonderland.