Giuseppe Tornatore

Biography

Giuseppe Tornatore (born 27 May 1956) is an Italian film director and screenwriter. Born in Bagheria near Palermo, Tornatore developed an interest in acting and the theatre from at least the age of 16 and put on works by Luigi Pirandello and Eduardo De Filippo. 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 before releasing his first full-length film, Il Camorrista, in 1985. This evoked a positive response from audience and critics alike and Tornatore was awarded the Silver Ribbon for best new director. Tornatore's best known screen work was released in 1988: Nuovo Cinema Paradiso, a film narrating the life of a successful film director who has returned to his native town in Sicily 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.

Directed

1. Cinema Paradiso (1988) — Director
2. The Best Offer (2013) — Director
3. Malena (2000) — Director
4. The Legend of 1900 (1998) — Director
5. Baaria (2009) — Director
6. Correspondence (2016) — Director
7. A Pure Formality (1994) — Director
8. Ennio (2022) — Director
9. The Unknown Woman (2006) — Director
10. The Star Maker (1995) — Director
11. Everybody's Fine (1990) — Director
12. The Professor (1986) — Director
13. Especially on Sunday (1991) — Director
14. The King of Ads (1991) — Director
15. Il Mago di Esselunga (2011) — Director
16. Il camorrista - Una serie di Giuseppe Tornatore (2025) — Director
17. L'ultimo gattopardo - Ritratto di Goffredo Lombardo (2010) — Director
18. Brunello: The Gracious Visionary (2025) — Director
19. Lo schermo a tre punte (1995) — Director
20. Il sognatore indiscreto — Director
21. Diario di Guttuso (1982) — Director
22. Devotion (2020) — Director
23. The First Dollar — Director
24. Paradiso — Director

Also appeared in

1. Cinema Paradiso (1988) — Projectionist (uncredited)
2. Ennio (2022) — Self
3. Sergio Leone: The Italian Who Invented America (2022) — Self
4. Cecchi Gori - Una famiglia italiana (2019) — Self
5. All Star - Ritorno al cinema (2021) — Proiezionista
6. Citizen Rosi (2019) — Self
7. The Magic of Fellini (2002) — Self (archive footage)
8. Ennio Morricone (1995) — Self
9. I Don't Know the Men of this City (2015)
10. Cinque mondi (2016) — Self
11. L'ultimo gattopardo - Ritratto di Goffredo Lombardo (2010) — Self
12. Dante Ferretti: Production Designer (2010) — Self
13. Marcello, una vita dolce (2006) — Self
14. The Filmmaker and the Labyrinth (2004) — Self
15. Giuseppe Tornatore - Ogni film un'opera prima (2014) — Self
16. 24/25 Il fotogramma in più (2018) — Self
17. Carlo Vanzina - Il cinema è una cosa meravigliosa (2019) — Self
18. Cinema Italiano: Moments of Truth (2014) — Self
19. C'era una volta il prossimamente (2014) — Self
20. Franco Cristaldi e il suo cinema Paradiso (2009)
21. A Dream of Sicily (2000) — Self
22. Born in the U.S.E. - Nato negli Stati Uniti d'Europa (2015) — Self
23. The Man with the Cigar in His Mouth (1997) — Self
24. Enrico Lucherini - Ne ho fatte di tutti i colori (2014) — Self
25. A Bear and a Mouse in Paradise (2006) — Self
26. Good Morning, the Wind Blows (2020) — Self
27. Titanus 1904 (2024) — Self
28. Sartoria Tirelli - Vestire il cinema (2006) — Self
29. Tutte le storie di Piera (2014)
30. Intervista a Riccardo Freda sul suo cinema (2007)
31. The Kissing Sequence - Cinema Paradiso
32. Ferdinando Scianna - Il fotografo dell'ombra (2025) — Self
33. Aldeas, the Final Dream of Pope Francis (2026) — Self
34. Quelli che il cinema (2025) — Self