Editor

The Bahamas International Film Festival (BIFF), announced today that Fox Searchlight Pictures’ acclaimed coming-of-age comedy drama JUNO will be the closing night film of this year’s festival, which takes place December 6-13 in Nassau. The film is slated to screen on Thursday, December 13th. The announcement was made today by BIFF Founder and Executive Director Leslie Vanderpool.

A Fox Searchlight Pictures presentation, JUNO is directed by Jason Reitman (THANK YOU FOR SMOKING) from a script by Diablo Cody (Candy Girl) and is a Mandate Pictures/Mr. Mudd production. Producers are Mason Novick and Mr. Mudd partners Lianne Halfon, John Malkovich and Russell Smith. Mandate’s Joe Drake and Nathan Kahane executive produced with Daniel Dubiecki, Reitman’s partner at Hard C. Jim Miller, who brought the project into Mandate, serves as co-producer along with the company’s Kelli Konop and Brad Van Arragon.

The film’s all-star cast includes Michael Cera (“Superbad”), Ellen Page (“X-Men: The Last Stand”), Jennifer Garner (“Elektra”), Jason Bateman (“The Kingdom”), Allison Janney (“West Wing”), Rainn Wilson (NBC’s “The Office”) and J.K. Simmons (“Spider-Man”).

Fox Searchlight Pictures is releasing the film domestically in December 2007.

Commented Vanderpool, “’JUNO’ is a stunning film with some of the finest performances of the year. We're extremely proud to have the film close what we anticipate will be a landmark film festival."

JUNO stars Ellen Page as the title character, a whip-smart teen confronting an unplanned pregnancy by her classmate Bleeker (Michael Cera). With the help of her best friend Leah (Olivia Thirlby), Juno finds her unborn child a “perfect” set of parents: an affluent suburban couple, Mark and Vanessa (Bateman and Jennifer Garner), longing to adopt. Luckily, Juno has the total support of her parents (Simmons and Janney) as she faces some tough decisions, flirts with adulthood and ultimately figures out where she belongs

BIFF 2007 begins Thursday, December 6th and runs through Thursday, December 13th. Additional announcements pertaining to the Film Festival lineup will be made in the coming month.