Bella the movie. Go out and see this Pro-Life movie

Bella Continues Strong Performance at Theaters

Theaters Showing Bella
Top Honor at Heartland Film Festival
Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson with Bella star and Knight Eduardo Verastegui and singer Tony Bennett at the Bella premiere in New York City on Oct. 25.

With the help of Knights of Columbus councils around the United States, Bella, the major motion picture with a strong pro-life message, had a very good opening at the box office.

With a limited release in 165 theaters in major markets around the United States., it grossed $1.3 million and had the highest per screen average ($7,928) of any movie opening on more than two screens the weekend of Oct. 27-28, including the top-grossing movie, Saw IV.

For the weekend of Nov. 2-44, it grossed more than $1 million and had the third highest per screen average ($5,381) of any movie on more than 50 screens.

Supreme Knight Carl Anderson recommends that local councils take advantage of an opportunity to pre-purchase groups of discounted tickets and raise money for local pregnancy resource centers. These tickets can then be resold at face value to encourage people to view the film.

The movie opens in 12 more cities on Nov. 9, and high ticket sales this week could prompt the movie's distributor to add additional cities nationwide.
Bella, whose star and producers are Knights, won the Toronto Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award.

“If we can get millions of people to see this film, we are going to save lives,” Anderson said. “We can get people to understand what we mean when we talk about a culture of life, or what it means to live a Catholic life. Our support of this movie can be the start of something great.”
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Groups of tickets will be sold to councils for no more than $12 each depending on the market. Councils should consider working together with local parishes to purchase and sell tickets to a special screening of the film.

As an added benefit, councils who buy out a showing and resell the tickets will receive credit for all four Church activities for the Columbian Award (reported on the Columbian Award Application [#Sp-7]). Such screenings are also a great opportunities for councils to recruit new members. Membership materials should be available at these events for interested potential members.

Bella was produced by Knights Leo Severino and Sean Wolfington, and stars Knight Eduardo Verastegui. Verastegui and Wolfington took their First Degree in New Haven at the June State Deputies meeting.

The state deputies and their wives also enjoyed a premiere showing of Bella.

The movie tells the story of Jose (Verástegui), who gives up his career as a soccer superstar after a tragic incident.

He goes to work in his brother’s restaurant, where he befriends a pregnant waitress and begins to resolve some of the pain he stills feel about the life-changing accident. A former telenovela (soap opera) star in his native Mexico, Verástegui abandoned his burgeoning Hollywood career to start a new film company to produce movies with a moral message.

After the screening, Verástegui spoke briefly to the Knights. He described his character as a “man who wants to live a life of integrity and sacrifice everything” for family and others. The film does this by portraying Latinos and family life in a favorable light.