“Dersu Uzala” (デルス・ウザーラ), Original Japanese First Release Movie Poster 1975, Very Rare, B1 Size (c. 73 × 103 cm) FA8

This is an original Japanese B1 poster issued in Japan for the first domestic theatrical release of Dersu Uzala (1975), Akira Kurosawa’s extraordinary Soviet–Japanese epic—directed and co-written by Kurosawa, and based on Russian explorer Vladimir Arsenyev’s memoir of his expeditions through the Ussuri taiga and his profound friendship with the hunter Dersu. The film opened theatrically in Japan on 2 August 1975 (Japan Herald / 日本ヘラルド映画). 

A towering late-career achievement, Dersu Uzala became an international milestone for Kurosawa—winning the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film (48th Academy Awards) and cementing the film’s status as one of cinema’s great humanist adventure dramas. 

Poster design
A breathtaking, emotionally charged Japanese campaign built around scale, contrast, and atmosphere. The entire sheet is dominated by an immense snarling great cat emerging from snow and mist—an unforgettable emblem of the Siberian wilderness—while Kurosawa’s central human story is layered in collage-like vignettes: Dersu and Arsenyev pictured together (rifle angled across the frame), a stark documentary-style image of queues outside a cinema (signalling the film’s “big hit” status in Japan), and production imagery including a close-up portrait of Kurosawa himself. At right, a grid of stills functions almost like a programme panel—scenes of men hauling through rivers, blizzards, and taiga terrain—underscoring the film’s elemental struggle between humanity and nature. The huge vermilion title 「デルス・ウザーラ」 cuts across the upper field with striking modernist force, paired with small roman text “DERSU UZALA,” giving the design a distinctly bold, period-1970s Japanese theatrical feel. The poster also highlights “1975 Moscow Film Festival Grand Prix” and “Ministry of Education Special Selection” prominently in the typography—key period accolades presented as part of the original marketing impact.

Condition
Very Good overall. Please review the photos as they show the exact poster for sale.

It is over 50 years old!

It is not a reproduction or a reprint.
Certificate of Authenticity included.