Hot Docs

Commissioned by producer Serge Silberman to follow the filming of Japanese director Akira Kurosawa’s Ran, acclaimed avant-garde documentarian Chris Marker (La jetée, A Grin Without a Cat, Sans Soleil) has created a film as much about the man behind the camera as the action happening in front. Kurosawa (Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Kagemusha) is regarded as one of the most important directors in cinematic history and here we see him at work during his ambitious medieval Japanese take on Shakespeare’s King Lear. Marker’s love for Japanese culture, often seen in his own work, is reflected throughout this thoughtful portrait of Kurosawa’s ethos and process. Screened in Un Certain Regard at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival, A.K. is a look into the method of two masters at work, one documenting the other.