Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore, one of the most popular and successful European filmmakers, will arrive in Havana on January 7, 2010 for a four-day visit.

The director of the 1987 hit "Cinema Paradiso" was invited by the Cuban Institute of Film Production, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Tornatore will bring a selection of his creations such as “Baaria" (2008), starring Monica Belluci.
Born in Palermo in 1956, Tornatore has been at the helm of productions starring renowned actors as Marcello Mastroianni and Gerard Depardieu.

Tornatore’s visit to Cuba strengthens the traditional ties between Italian and Cuban cinema, established in the last century. The Cuban cinema, which emerged after Fidel Castro´s triumph in 1959, found inspiration in the Italian Neorealism of Vittorio de Sica, Roberto Rossellini, and screenwriter Cesare Zavattini, particularly in the depicting the characters and situations of social realism.