Talk to the creators of Bella, a quiet new film with a pro-life theme, and their faces often get a certain look: incredulous, even wonder-struck. Most of the time, they cannot believe their humble production has come so far.

And far it has come for a $3 million movie with an executive producer who had never made films, a director who had never made a feature-length film, and a lead actor who was jobless for three years. Last year Bella won the prestigious People’s Choice Award at the world’s largest film festival in Toronto, competing against Oscar winners such as The Departed and The Queen. In the United States, it is scheduled to open in 30 cities Oct. 26.

Already the film has captured the imagination of mainstream critics and Christians alike. The story follows José (Eduardo Veràstegui), a rising soccer star whose career upends when he runs over and kills a little girl. Years later, working as a gentle but haunted chef in his brother’s New York restaurant, he learns that friend Niña (Tammy Blanchard) is pregnant and alone. In helping her, he finds renewal.

Bella is the first production of Metanoia Films, the film company created by Veràstegui, director Alejandro Monteverde, and Leo Severino, a Los Angeles lawyer. The “3 Amigos” and devout Catholics wanted to create Christian-themed films to uplift and inspire. In Bella they accomplish that and more: the film has a spare but elegant cast and storyline. José and Nina deal with burdensome, life-changing hurts with an understated resilience appealing to ordinary people. The film doesn’t settle for Hollywood redemption, where the hero loses fame and riches but regains all in the end; instead, he gains character.