Russian actor-director Nikita Mikhalkov and Chinese filmmaker Chen Kaige have received this year's Akira Kurosawa Award. The announcement was made by the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF).

Awarded annually for lifetime achievements in film directing, the trophy carries with it a cash prize of $50,000. The award will be presented at the TIFF closing ceremony.

Nikita Mikhalkov began his career as a child actor in the late 50s and began directing in the late 1960s. His directing credits include Golden Lion winner Close To Eden and 2007 Oscar-nominated drama 12. His 1994 film Burnt By The Sun won the Academy Award for best foreign-language film.

Chen Kaige is known internationally for such films as Yellow Earth, Palme d'Or winner Farewell My Concubine and The Emperor And The Assassin. He is currently in post-production on large-scale biopic Mei Lanfang, starring Leon Lai and Zhang Ziyi.

While the prize is generally awarded to two recipients, last year's lone winner was The Killing Fields producer Lord David Puttnam, who chaired TIFF's first competition jury in 1985. Other previous recipients include Kon Ichikawa, Milos Forman, Yoji Yamada, Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg.

TIFF runs from October 18-26 in Tokyo's Roppongi and Shibuya districts.

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