Kinji Fukasaku, Japanese actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1930)
Kinji Fukasaku (深作 欣二, Fukasaku Kinji, 3 July 1930 – 12 January 2003) was a Japanese film director and screenwriter who rose to prominence with a series of yakuza films. He directed the Japanese portion of the Hollywood war film Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), yakuza films including Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1973), samurai period pieces such as Shogun's Samurai (1978), the space opera Message from Space (1978), the fantasy film Samurai Reincarnation (1981), and his final film Battle Royale (2000). He used a cinema verite-inspired shaky camera technique in many of his films from the early 1970s.In 1997, he received the Purple Medal of Honor from the Japanese government for his work in film. Fukasaku's films inspired American film director Quentin Tarantino, most notably the inclusion of the Battles Without Honor and Humanity theme in Kill Bill. He was also an inspiration for director William Friedkin.
2003Jan, 12
Kinji Fukasaku
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Events on 2003
- 17Mar
2003 invasion of Iraq
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Robin Cook, resigns from the British Cabinet in disagreement with government plans for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. - 7Apr
Saddam Hussein
U.S. troops capture Baghdad; Saddam Hussein's regime falls two days later. - 27Aug
North Korea and weapons of mass destruction
The first six-party talks, involving South and North Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, convene to find a peaceful resolution to the security concerns of the North Korean nuclear weapons program. - 12Sep
Pan Am Flight 103
The United Nations lifts sanctions against Libya after that country agreed to accept responsibility and recompense the families of victims in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. - 12Nov
2003 invasion of Iraq
Iraq War: In Nasiriyah, Iraq, at least 23 people, among them the first Italian casualties of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, are killed in a suicide bomb attack on an Italian police base.