Sicilian-born Giuseppe Tornatore proved a prodigy of sorts, beginning his career as a prize-winning still photographer. While in his mid-teens, he began directing, first for the stage and then by making the short film "Il Carretto/The Wagon". Eventually Tornatore caught the attention of RAI television and was hired to hem documentaries and TV-movies. In 1982, he garnered attention for his documentary "Ethnic Minorities in Sicily", which picked up a prize at the Salerno Film Festival. He shifted to fictional features co-writing the script to 1983's "Centro Giorni a Palermo/A Hundred Days in