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Original Film Title: Sergio Dondoli’s Happy Life
Director’s Name: Jay Arnold
Writer’s Name: Jay Arnold, Matt Dallas, Jillian Hurley
Producer: Jay Arnold, Gabe Munitz-Allesio, Jillian Hurley, Frank Lomento
Country of Origin: United States
Country of Filming: Italy
Language: English, Italian
Runtime: 1 hour 22 minutes 50 seconds
Film Description:
The boundless joy and unabashed passion of master gelato-maker Sergio Dondoli take center stage in this exuberant tribute to the delights of food, creativity, and a life lived with the lightest of touches yet the deepest of care.
As playful as its subject, Happy Life looks at the rise of Dondoli and his world-famed Tuscan gelateria, where thousands stand in line daily anxiously waiting for a taste. What emerges is a portrait of a man who started from the humblest beginnings yet found a way to make cultivating sweetness in all its forms his life’s work. For it is Dondoli’s insistence on prioritizing happiness in every aspect of his craft—from nurturing ethically-raised cows to cherishing his never-ending customers—that lies behind the man who has been crowned the World Gelato Champion.
Filmmaker Jay Arnold puts the focus on Dondoli’s irrepressible personality, humor, and storytelling as Dondoli recounts his path—from impoverished childhood to aspirational young chef and pizza-maker to the risk he took opening Gelateria di Piazza (now Gelateria Dondoli) in the medieval hilltop town of San Gimignano, Italy in 1992. Against the charming backdrop of San Gimignano’s lush hills and whimsical, tower-spiked skyline–Dondoli recounts how ingenuity, guile, tenacity, and family (especially his intriguingly silent wife Franca) each played an essential role in his now legendary success. He describes the process of how he concocts his gelato, incorporating such unexpected and aromatic flavors as saffron, pine nuts, lavender, rosemary, and local wines. And he delights in his discovery that just a touch of experimentation can transform the traditional into something magical.
But most of all, Dondoli reveals the secret he has discovered applies equally to food, business, and life alike: doing everything with a meticulous cheer and for the pleasure it brings to others.
As Dondoli lays out his guiding philosophy, Happy Life also becomes an homage to the slow food movement and humane, sustainable agriculture. Dondoli credits the inimitable taste of his gelato in part to the biodynamic and organic local farms from which he sources his ingredients. In colorful interviews, Dondoli and the local farmers who collaborate with him paint a compelling picture of why raising happy animals and working in harmony with the land are as important to creating award-winning gelato as milk and fruit.
Throughout Happy Life, Arnold provides a vivid sensory experience with mouth-watering imagery and lively conversations—mirroring the spirit of simple joyousness Dondoli personifies.
Happy Life is directed by Jay Arnold and written by Arnold, Matt Dallas and Jillian Hurley. The producers are Arnold, Dallas, Hurley, Frank Lomento and Gabriel Munitz-Alessio, with Munitz-Alessio also serving as cinematographer. The executive producers are Jay Arnold and Sergio Dondoli.