Directed by: Alejandro Gomez & Monteverde
Release date: Oct 26th, 2007Nov 9th
Budget: $4,300,000
Bella is a 2006 film directed by Alejandro Gomez Monteverde starring Mexican actor Eduardo Verastegui and Tammy Blanchard. Set in New York City, the film is about a day in the life of Jose, a former soccer star, and Nina, a waitress who is unexpectedly pregnant. The film took top prize at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival by winning the “People’s Choice Award”. Rotten Tomatoes named this is the user’s most popular limited release film. Nevertheless the film received mixed reviews from some critics.
Cast:
*Eduardo Verástegui as Jose
*Tammy Blanchard as Nina
*Manny Perez as Manny
*Ali Landry as Celia
*Ramon Rodriguez as Eduardo

*Bella took top prize at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival by winning the “People’s Choice Award”, putting them in the category of previous Oscar winners such as Chariots of Fire, Life is Beautiful, American Beauty, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and others.

* Bella won the Heartland Film Festival’s Crystal Heart Award and also won the festivals grand prize of $100,000, which is the largest cash prize of any festival in the world.

*Bella received this year’s Tony Bennett Media Excellence Award.

*Bella broke the record for total Box Office and Box Office average per screen for films released in 2007 in it’s category (Latino themed films) by generating more than $7.6 million dollars on a film that cost $3 million