'' Ran '' won several awards in Japan , but was not quite as honored there as many of the director 's best films of the 1950s and 1960s had been . The film world was surprised , however , when Japan passed over the selection of '' Ran '' in favor of another film as its official entry to compete for an Oscar nomination in the Best Foreign Film category , which was ultimately rejected for competition at the 58th Academy Awards . Both the producer and Kurosawa himself attributed the failure to even submit '' Ran '' for competition to a misunderstanding : because of the Academy 's arcane rules , no one was sure whether '' Ran '' qualified as a '' Japanese '' film , a '' French '' film ( due to its financing ) , or both , so it was not submitted at all . In response to what at least appeared to be a blatant snub by his own countrymen , the director Sidney Lumet led a successful campaign to have Kurosawa receive an Oscar nomination for Best Director that year ( Sydney Pollack ultimately won the award for directing '' Out of Africa '' ) . '' Ran '' s costume designer , Emi Wada , won the movie 's only Oscar
58th Academy Awards
58th Academy Awards
Akira Kurosawa