Family Style

Alejandro Gomez Monteverde has spent the past year introducing his child to the world, coaxing people to look at her, to listen to her, to tell their friends how beautiful she is. Then he and his actress wife, Ali Landry, had a baby daughter named Estela.

He's still nurturing that first child, the film Bella, but he also admits to knowing a lot more now than he did while making the film. "When I shot the film, I was not even married," he says. "Now I'm married with a baby. It's one thing to think you know about family; it's another to actually weave together a family."

Those are humble words from a University of Texas film graduate whose first full-length film took the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival for its gorgeously shot, thoughtful meditation on loss, connection, family, and food and has been making the film-festival rounds – including South by Southwest – before gaining theatrical distribution. "We've screened around the nation promoting through the grassroots," he says. "At about 75 percent of the screenings, we've had a standing ovation. We've started to get used to that kind of response."

Indeed, Metanoia Films, the company Monteverde formed with Bella star Eduardo Verástegui, has grown to 75 employees and is mulling which project will be its next. One thing is certain: It won't be filled with graphic sex and violence. "The media today is shaping the hearts and minds of our society," he says, noting that most children spend more time in front of a television than interacting with their parents. "Most of the films that are successful are literally horror films – violent films with lots of sexual content. Our goal is to make films that explore the positive side of humanity. The main mission of our company is to make films that inspire, that raise the question of how we can make the world a better world for our children."

That attitude has gained strange bedfellows for an independent film: Donald Wildmon's American Family Association, which is championing Bella both in its newsletter to members and through Wildmon's One Million Moms organization, which terms it a pro-life movie. In an e-mail to members, Wildmon calls the film "a rare gem that defies the norms of Hollywood and profoundly illustrates how true, sacrificial love can change someone's life forever."

Bella, co-written by Austinite Patrick Million, was born during a drive from Austin to Los Angeles, where Monteverde was to make a boxing film. "Pain is a language," he says of his realization. "When you share with another human being, it can really bring you closer together. Each person's pain becomes each person's medicine. It becomes each other's redemption." The plot is loosely inspired by trials experienced by friends but also by the immigrant family's emphasis on food. "In Mexico, it's all based on family," Monteverde says. "You live in your parents' house pretty much until you marry. With Mexican filmmakers, you always see this same texture and character development. We tend to go a little deeper."

He hopes to sway the U.S. film industry in the same direction. "We did what we could with the access we had," he says of making Bella. "If we can prove there is an audience for films like this, Hollywood is going to make more films that inspire."

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Bella, which screened at SXSW Film 07, opens in Austin on Friday, Oct. 26. For a review and showtimes, see Film Listings.