With The Seven Samurai and other feudal epics, Kurosawa was accused of peddling the samurai tradition as exotica for Westerners.

CNN: Kurosawa Akira

Kurosawa's epic masterpiece The Seven Samurai (1954) became the 1960 Western The Magnificent Seven.

CNN: Kurosawa Akira

It came in ahead of ahead of more widely known films like Japanese Akira Kurosawa's "Shichinin no samurai" ("Seven Samurai"), which took second place and "Wo hu cang long" ("Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon") by Taiwan's Ang Lee, which snared third.

CNN: Filipino film 'Himala' wins CNN APSA Viewers Choice Award