In The Lonely Italian, MTV Italy star Domenico Nesci is looking to find love in America by joining every online dating website and app, while documenting his experience at the same time. It’s easy to compare The Lonely Italian with Sascha Baron Cohen’s Borat and The Ali G Show. Film Threat caught up with The Lonely Italian star Domenico Nesci and its director Lee Farber at the San Diego International Film Festival. We spoke about their hybrid-documentary that combines scripted comedy, reality and real innocent civilians.

How would you explain The Lonely Italian to someone who is not Italian and only knows about Italians from The Godfather?

Domenico Nesci: So, plot of the film, it’s an Italian man-

Lee Farber: Okay, forget it. They’re not going to understand a word he’s saying.

Domenico Nesci: What? That was the best.

Lee Farber: You … I swear to God, your English is more broken than my heart in college. Domenico is Italian. He really is Italian. And he is having trouble meeting women in America in the traditional Italian way of saying, “Ciao, Bella? How are you? Can I take you out, tonight?” The idea is that as Americans, we’re all so buried in our devices, looking down, that we don’t look up at the world around us.