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Devoted pacifist and allegorical visionary, Ishiro Honda (b. 1911) was and remains one of Japan’s most influential filmmakers. He grew up with a love for film and developed artistic aspirations. However, his life was forever changed when he was drafted, primarily serving during World War II, witnessing unimaginable horrors firsthand, including atrocities committed by the Imperial Japanese Army. Following his military service and time as a prisoner of war, Honda returned to a devastated Japan that was still in ruins from the firebombings and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These traumatic experiences solidified his anti-war beliefs and devotion to advocating pacifism, including postwar reflections on the wartime horrors he was affiliated with. He was a man who stood by his principles right up to his passing in 1993. More information on the director’s life can be found in Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski’s biography “Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film,...

Legendary Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa is best known for his epic historical pieces like "Seven Samurai" and "Rashomon," but the most fun he ever had on a film set wasn't even his own. Before he became a globally acclaimed director, Kurosawa worked as an assistant director on Japanese productions like the 1941 film "Horse." Thanks to director Kajirō Yamamoto's hands-off approach, the film has quite a bit of Kurosawa's influence.

Despite being credited as an assistant director, Kurosawa would often be put in charge of entire scenes on the set of "Uma," translated as "Horse" or "Horses." It might sound a little bit exploitative, but the young filmmaker saw Yamamoto's trust as an honor, an opportunity for him to learn.

"In order to give us experience with directing actors, Yama-san often had assistant directors take charge of second-unit shooting," he recalled in his memoir Something Like An Autobiography. "Sometimes he...