Oscar-winning Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore will be honored during the upcoming Taormina Film Festival with the Golden Globes Prize for Documentary in partnership with Artemis Rising Foundation for his docufilm “Brunello: The Gracious Visionary” about Brunello Cucinelli, the fashion designer known as Italy’s “King of Cashmere.”
Tornatore will receive the award in Taormina’s large open-air ancient Greek amphitheater in the shadow of Sicily’s active Mt. Etna volcano. The storied festival, held in the resort is known to U.S. audiences as the location of “The White Lotus” Season 2, is being revamped by marketing guru and festivals specialist Tiziana Rocca.
Besides his 1990 Oscar-winning “Cinema Paradiso,” Tornatore more recently helmed art world thriller “The Best Offer,” with Donald Sutherland; 2016’s “Correspondence” with Olga Kurylenko and Jeremy Irons; and 2022 hit Ennio Morricone doc “Ennio.”
The 2025 docufilm “Brunello: The Gracious Visionary” chronicles Cucinelli’s rise from being a farmer’s son to becoming the creative director and executive chairman of a global luxury lifestyle brand with a market capitalization of more than $7.8 billion. The film, which interweaves documentary and reenacted components, was shot in Umbria. It depicts key moments in Cucinelli’s career, showcasing his passion for Italian craftsmanship and commitment to a concept he calls “humanistic capitalism,” under which every stitch of clothing his company creates is made in Italy and mostly in the area where he comes from. Cucinelli also makes sure his factory workers are paid fair wages and feel like family. He has completely renovated the Italian village of Solomeo that is home to his headquarters.
