And that's all I know. Why? Because, no matter how hard they tried... and they tried a very hard (seven DVDs and two DVD players), the DVDs were not compatible with the projection systems.The Publicist, Corby Pons and star/producer Eduardo Verástegui, were very patient and extremely apologetic. The sponsors of the evening, the Alphonso family, who rented the theater and brought in the producer and star, were unphased and kept their spirits up.
In between DVDs 4 and 5, Eduardo spoke to all of us telling us his story. He was born in a faithful Catholic family, he rose to become a very successful Mexican soap opera star and moved to Hollywood. He appeared in numerous television shows and films and, through the work of his English language teacher, realized he was not living his faith. And that being successful in the eyes of Hollywood was not the same as being successful in the eyes of God.
After speaking with his priest and reading some books he decided to fire his agents and managers, sell all of his belongings and go to Brazil to work as a missionary for two years in the jungle. When he told this to his priest, the priest told him, "there is no larger jungle than Hollywood and we need missionaries here too."
So, with a few friends and acquaintances, Eduardo formed his own film company to make uplifting, faith-filled films. The first is Bella.
The film has won numerous awards, including the Academy Awards precursor, the Toronto Film Festivals Peoples Choice Award. Getting distribution has been tough but the team has been flying all over the country, building up support from a grassroots level, starting with a theatrical release of four cities to now over 30.
Because of this David vs. Goliath mentality, it broke our hearts to see the events unfold as they did. Corby told me that they felt Satan had been working against this film very hard. They've had obstacle after obstacle... nothing had gone as badly as it had last night. I told him, "no matter how hard Satan pushes, we'll push harder." The offered us all tickets to the premiere in Miami (not sure if we'll be able to attend) and signed DVD copies, when the film is released on DVD.
They were very nice, very faithful and very apologetic. In the end, however, the struggles made us root for the film that much more. The first half-hour was superbly told and engrossing. We can't wait to see the rest of the film
Another nice event of the evening was DC getting to meet Eduardo in person. From my experiences in the entertainment industry, I had learned that if you treat stars like stars, they'll treat you like a fan. If you treat them like a person, they'll treat you as a person. So, when DC was about to meet Eduardo, Dea offered the poster and a pen and suggested she get an autograph. DC responded that she didn't want to meet his as a fan, but as a person. And that's what she did.They shook hands and DC, as a fellow actor with strong faith, was very touched and inspired by Eduardo's story. They spoke for a few minutes on acting and faith. Eduardo asked DC to keep him in prayers and that he would keep her in his. Eduardo offered for her to keep in touch, as they are "always on the lookout for actors who want to express their faith through their work."
On the way home, we all talked about how wonderful the production company was, how sad we were for them in regards to the viewing and how inspiring Eduardo's story was for us. DC also was giggly over how cute he was... or gorgeous... I can't remember the exact description she reveled in, but she was smitten. After all, Eduard was voted the third most beautiful person in the world... and he just might be.
Anyway, the premiere did not go as we had intended, but it was very memorable and made us want to support and promote the film Bella as much as we could.
If Bella opens near you, please see this pro-life, touching movie about love that goes beyond romance. These faith-filled filmmakers need our prayers and support.
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2 comments:
I poked around the Bella website looking for where and when the movie would be shown, but no luck. I would love to try and make this a Lifeteen event in the Sugar Land area. Have you seen a list of release dates anywhere?
Not yet. They need a "guarantee" of at least 4000 tickets before the distributor will consider showing it there.
We were thinking of taking the Lifeteen youth group to a showing as well.
Since the show is Latino, I would expect Texas will be one of the areas the film would fare well. I think it is released 10/26, so keep an eye out for it.
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