Q&A with director, Steve Dabal, to follow this special screening.
In 2003, Bill and Anne Disselhorst were lifelong restaurant workers, but it was not until they traveled to Italy that they fell in love with the simplicity of cooking, the quality of ingredients, and a philosophy that inspired the slow food movement. Inspired, they bought a small apartment in the hilltop village of Casperia and carried that spirit back home to Los Angeles. In 2010, after Bill was fired from his job, the couple opened Fiore Market Café in South Pasadena.
What began as a hand-sewn neighborhood café quickly became a beloved local institution. Known for its fresh-baked bread, long lines, and shared tables, Fiore was more than a restaurant. It was a community hub. Every morning before dawn, Bill baked bread to serve sandwiches by mid-morning. When the bread was gone, the sandwiches were gone too, and the ritual drew people together day after day.
Just as Fiore was named one of Yelp’s Top 100 Restaurants in America, tragedy struck. Anne died suddenly after 31 years of marriage, leaving Bill and the community devastated. As he grieved, the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, further testing the café and the neighbors who rallied around it.
After twelve years, Bill sold Fiore. Searching for meaning and renewal, he returned to Casperia, the town where his and Anne’s love of food first began. There, he embraced a slower rhythm once again: hand-kneading stringozzi pasta, pressing olive oil at the village mill, gathering with neighbors around shared meals, and searching for community.
Italian Wannabe is a lyrical meditation on love, loss, and the pursuit of community through food. Told through intimate vérité, textured portraits, and the rhythms of everyday life in a medieval Italian village, the film reflects on what it means to begin again, and how food can nourish both body and spirit
The film was directed, shot, and edited by Steve Dabal, with production led by Harry Baruch, Nikki Krivanek, and Filippo Nesci (who produced the Italian unit and translations). Additional cinematography came from Edward Tran (California) and Jesse Sperling (Casperia).