Young told ScreenDaily.com the Tornatore retrospective includes eight features, ten documentaries the director made for RAI and television ads like his famous Dolce & Gabbana spot featuring Monica Bellucci.
Tornatore will also teach a master class open to the public, Young confirmed.
Young says, 'It is all inedito' (the Italian word for never before
seen). Before being named festival director, Young served for six years as Taormina's vice director alongside Felice Laudadio, who now heads Rome 's Casa del Cinema. Young also consults on Italian titles for the Tribeca Film Festival.
The festival, which will take place June 16-23 in its traditional location at the base of Sicily's Mt. Etna, will focus on developments in production and distribution coming from the Middle East and the Mediterranean.
'This edition will focus on Egypt,' Young says, promising the 'the biggest stars from the Arab world plus new production companies like the (Cairo-based) Good News Group (whose maiden production The Yacoubian Building is Egypt's most expensive production ever) will be present.'
'We will create a spazio mediterraneo (Mediterranean space), to encourage informal meetings between Mediterranean producers' says Young, who as a critic has developed a passion for Middle Eastern films.
The 53rd edition will also see the return the Sicilian Short Film competition.
This year's budget, which is set at $1.58m (Euros 1.2m), will come from Fondazione Banco di Sicilia now that BNL (Banca Nazionale di Lavoro) has rerouted their sponsorship funds to the Rome Film Fest.
The prize ceremony for Italy's oldest film awards, the Nastri D'Argento film awards (Silver Ribbons) will return after two years' hiatus from their association with the festival in a closing ceremony June 23 in Sicily's Teatro Antico.
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