Bella PosterGorgeous is the word that describes the story of Bella.

During a screening during the NEA Conference in Irving, TX, two of the filmmaking “three amigos”, Leo Severino and Eduardo Verastegui (Alejandro Monteverde was not there) shared anecdotes of how they came together to start Metanoia Films, bringing their “first baby”, Bella. Eduardo, after moving to LA to film Chasing Papi (which he now doesn’t recommend seeing), experienced a conversion back to his Catholic faith. Going to daily Mass is not a common occurence among young adults in LA, so when Leo began seeing Eduardo, he knew he had to find out who this other devoted Catholic was. This is how Metanoia began.

Another interesting story takes place on the set of Bella. It was the last day of filming in New York City and the forecast called for a 100% chance of rain for the whole day–the radar image was fully green. This was bad. After shooting half of the scene the day earlier on a dry, sunny day, while the budget demanded the shoot to be finished that day, the cast & crew prayed and began working in faith despite the rain. As the camera began rolling, the rain stopped! The rest of the day, there was a patch of clear sky just above them, as it poured all around them and on one side of the ice cream truck at the end of the block. People were walking onto the set soaking wet just because they came from the end of the block!

Bella will be in theaters Friday, October 26, 2007.

In the mean time, watch the trailer and pray for Bella and the Catholics in Hollywood who are fighting the good fight of faith for all movie goers.