Giuseppe Tornatore (born 27 May 1956) is an Italian

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

and

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

. He is considered one of the directors who brought critical acclaim back to Italian cinema.Katz, Ephraim, "Italy," ''The Film Encyclopedia'' (New York: HarperResource, 2001), pp. 682-685. In a career spanning over 30 years he is best known for directing and writing drama films such as '' Everybody's Fine'', ''

The Legend of 1900 ''The Legend of 1900'' ( it, La leggenda del pianista sull'oceano, 'The Legend of the Pianist on the Ocean') is a 1998 Italian drama film directed by Giuseppe Tornatore and starring Tim Roth, Pruitt Taylor Vince and Mélanie Thierry. It was Tor ...

'', '' Malèna'', '' Baarìa'' and ''

The Best Offer ''The Best Offer'' ( it, La migliore offerta – entitled ''Deception'' in the UK) is a 2013 English-language Italian psychological thriller film written and directed by Giuseppe Tornatore. The film stars Geoffrey Rush, Jim Sturgess, Sylvia Hoeks ...

''. His most noted film is '' Cinema Paradiso'', for which Tornatore won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He has also directed several advertising campaigns for

Dolce & Gabbana Dolce & Gabbana (), also known by initials D&G, is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in 1985 in Legnano by Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. The house specializes in ready-to-wear, handbags, accessories, and cosmet ...

. Tornatore is also known for his long-standing association with composer Ennio Morricone, who composed music for thirteen Tornatore feature films since 1988.

Life and career

Born in Bagheria, near

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

, Tornatore developed an interest in acting and the theatre from at least the age of 16 and put on works by

Luigi Pirandello Luigi Pirandello (; 28 June 1867 – 10 December 1936) was an Italian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer whose greatest contributions were his plays. He was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature for "his almost magical power ...

and

Eduardo De Filippo Eduardo De Filippo (; 24 May 1900 – 31 October 1984), also known simply as ''Eduardo'', was an Italian actor, director, screenwriter and playwright, best known for his Neapolitan works ''Filumena Marturano'' and '' Napoli Milionaria''. Consid ...

. He worked initially as a freelance photographer. Then, switching to cinema, he made his debut with ''Le minoranze etniche in Sicilia'' (''The Ethnic Minorities in Sicily''), a collaborative documentary film which won a Salerno Festival prize. He then worked for

RAI RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...

before releasing his first full-length film, '' Il Camorrista'', in 1985. This evoked a positive response from audiences and critics alike and Tornatore was awarded the ''

Silver Ribbon The Nastro d'Argento, also known by its translated name Silver Ribbon, is an Italian film award awarded each year since 1946 by the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists (Italian: ''Sindacato Nazionale Giornalisti Cinematografici Italiani ...

'' for '' best new director''. In 1988, a collaboration with producer

Franco Cristaldi Franco Cristaldi (3 October 1924 – 1 July 1992) was an Italian film producer, credited with producing (or co-producing) feature films from the 1950s to the 1990s. Career In 1946 Cristaldi founded ''Vides Cinematografica'' in Turin. This product ...

gave birth to Tornatore's best known screen work: '' Cinema Paradiso'', a film narrating the life of a successful film director who has returned to his native town in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

for the funeral of his mentor. This obtained worldwide success and won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Subsequently, Tornatore released several other films. In 2007 he won the Silver George for Best Director at the 29th Moscow International Film Festival for ''

The Unknown Woman ''The Unknown Woman'' ( it, La sconosciuta, ; also known as ''The Other Woman'') is a 2006 Italian psychological thriller mystery film, directed by Giuseppe Tornatore that depicts a woman alone in a foreign country, haunted by a horrible past. P ...

''.

Personal life

Tornatore describes himself as "one who does not believe and who regrets this".Interview with ''Trovacinema''
/ref> His brother, Francesco Tornatore, is a producer.

Filmography

Written and directed

*1986: '' The Professor (Il camorrista)'' *1988: '' Cinema Paradiso (Nuovo Cinema Paradiso)'' *1990: '' Everybody's Fine (Stanno tutti bene)'' *1991: '' Especially on Sunday'' (segment "Il cane blu") *1994: '' A Pure Formality (Una pura formalità)'' *1995: '' The Star Maker (L'uomo delle stelle)'' *1995: '' Lo schermo a tre punte'' (documentary) *1996: '' Ritratti d'autore: seconda serie'' (documentary) *1998: '' The Legend of 1900 (La leggenda del pianista sull'oceano)'' *2000: '' Malèna'' *2006: '' The Unknown Woman (La sconosciuta)'' *2009: '' Baarìa'' *2013: '' The Best Offer (La migliore offerta)'' *2016: '' The Correspondence (La corrispondenza)'' *2021: '' Ennio - The Maestro''

Screenplay only

*''

Cento giorni a Palermo ''One Hundred Days in Palermo'' ( it, Cento giorni a Palermo) is a 1984 non-fiction film directed by Giuseppe Ferrara with Giuseppe Tornatore as screenplay writer. The film is a France/Italy coproduction and tells about the last hundred days in t ...

'' ("One Hundred Days in Palermo"), directed by

Giuseppe Ferrara Giuseppe Ferrara (15 July 1932 – 25 June 2016) was an Italian film director and screenwriter.1956 births European Film Awards winners (people) Best Original Screenplay BAFTA Award winners Living people People from Bagheria Italian atheists Italian film directors David di Donatello winners Nastro d'Argento winners Ciak d'oro winners Directors of Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award winners Filmmakers who won the Best Foreign Language Film BAFTA Award Film people from Sicily