Giuseppe Tornatore (1956) is an Italian director, screenwriter, film producer and editor, also known for his civic commitment, as well as for several films that have enjoyed considerable success among audiences in Italy and abroad. He was presented with the Magna Grecia International Award during the third edition of the Magna Grecia International Week, held in Buenos Aires, in 1999, by the International Association bearing the same name and chaired by President Nino Foti.

Born in Bagheria, in the province of Palermo, he has shown a strong attraction to acting and directing since he was a child. At the age of ten, he staged works by illustrious masters such as Luigi Pirandello and Eduardo De Filippo. Despite his great passion for the world of theatre and in particular for cinema, Tornatore initially devoted himself to his studies, starting to attend some lectures at the Faculty of Literature in Palermo. From his beginnings in the theatre, he later approached the world of the seventh art through some documentary and television experiences such as the super-eight documentary Il carretto and Immagini di un'antica cultura, although his real debut took place on Rai in 1981, with the documentary Ritratto di un rapinatore.

In the same year, again for Rai, he made Incontro con Francesco Rosi (1981), while in the following years he produced Le minoranze etniche in Sicilia (1982), a work with which he won the prize for best documentary at the Salerno Festival, followed by Diario di Guttuso (1982) and Sicilian writers and cinema: Verga, Pirandello, Brancati and Sciascia (1983). In 1984 he collaborated with Giuseppe Ferrara, founder of the Cine 2000 cooperative, to the film "Cento Giorgi a Palermo", of which he was a producer, as well as co-screenwriter and second unit director, and then two years later he made his debut as a director on the big screen with Il camorrista, based on the novel bearing the same name by Giuseppe Marrazzo and focused on the story of the well-known Camorra boss Raffaele Cutolo (in the film called 'O Professore ' and 'Vesuviano'). The film was well received by both audiences and critics and Tornatore won the "Nastro d’argento per miglior regista esordiente", an award founded in 1974 and awarded annually by the National Union of Italian Film Journalists.

Tornatore's international success was achieved with the film Nuovo cinema paradiso, whose genesis derives from the meeting with producer Franco Cristaldi, and which marked the beginning of a prolific collaboration with composer Ennio Morricone. After some unforeseen events, the film won the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In 1989 he was awarded the Flaiano Prize for the screenplay on Il camorrista and Nuovo Cinema Paradiso.

After winning an Oscar, Tornatore's career took off, and in 1990 he shot Stanno Tutti Bene starring Marcello Mastroianni, while in 1994 he shot Una pura formalità, a film that marked a turning point in the director's new style. The latter also features two internationally renowned artists, film director Roman Polański as an actor, and actor Gérard Depardieu.

The films that have marked Tornatore's career are countless. With L’uomo delle stelle he won three David di Donatello awards, Nastro d’argento for best film director, as well as the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival. He then received an Academy Award Nomination for best non-English language film, and with La sconosciuta he also won three David di Donatello awards.

Giuseppe Tornatore embodies Italian excellence, so much so that he received an honorary degree in television, cinema and new media from the IULM University of Milan in 2010, which was followed, in 2011, by the Federico Fellini Award for artistic excellence.