TORNATORE, GIUSEPPE

(1956-)

Photographer, screenwriter, director. Later to become one of the leading names of the so-calledNew Italian Cinema, Tornatore achieved early success as a still photographer and a prize-winningdocumentaryfilmmaker. After a number of television documentaries produced for RAI, he collaborated on the script and served as second unit director forGiuseppe Ferrara'sCento giorni a Palermo(A Hundred Days in Palermo, 1984), a film about General Dalla Chiesa's ill-fated attempt to destroy the Sicilian Mafia.His own feature directorial debut came two years later with another film on the Mafia,Il camorrista(The Professor, 1986), which earned him aNastro d'argentoas Best New Director. He would, however, achieve both national and international renown withNuovo cinema Paradiso(Cinema Paradiso, 1989), a nostalgic and loving celebration of the golden days of cinema that won, among many other awards, the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. His next film,Stanno tutti bene(Everybody's Fine, 1990), was a less celebratory look at the social degradation in Italy in the late 1980s, but was followed by the more whimsicalIl cane blu(The Blue Dog), one segment of the four-episode filmLa domenica specialmente(Especially on Sunday, 1992).Una pura formalita(A Pure Formality, 1994), a sort of metaphysical whodunit located almost entirely in one dark, rain-sodden room and starring Roman Polanski and Gerard Depardieu, is probably Tornatore's best and most complex film to date. This was followed byL'uomo dalle stelle(The Star Maker, 1995), another film that celebrated cinema, and thenLa leggenda delpianista sull'oceano(The Legend of 1900, 1998), a big-budget adaptation of a theatrical monologue by Alessandro Baricco that attracted a host of prizes including sixDavid di Donatelloawards and a special Nastro d'argento forEnnio Morricone's score. Tornatore returned to the Sicily of his childhood again withMalena(2000), an erotic coming-of-age film set during World War II and featuring the stunning looks ofMonica Bellucci.

Putting plans for a major film on the Battle of Stalingrad on hold for the moment due to lack of finances, Tornatore has most recently directedLa sconosciuta(The Unknown Woman, 2006), a neo-noir set in the northern Italian city of Trieste that earned him both the 2007 Nastro d'argento and the David di Donatello award for Best Director.