Hailed by critics as one of the top filmmakers of the 20th century, Japanese director Akira Kurosawa is especially distinctive as the only non-Westerner on this elite list. In 1990, he received an honorary Academy Award for lifetime achievement. However, only a few of his films are even familiar to

Hailed by critics as one of the top filmmakers of the 20th century, Japanese director Akira Kurosawa is especially distinctive as the only non-Westerner on this elite list. In 1990, he received an honorary Academy Award for lifetime achievement. However, only a few of his films are even familiar to American audiences, one of those being "The Seven Samurai," due mostly to the 1960 Hollywood Western remake "The Magnificent Seven." Three years after Kurosawa's death, the program explores the filmmaker's life and work, with the help of his two children, Hisao and Kuzuko.