For immediate release

NoMa BID media contact: Leslie Braunstein, 703-234-7762

Festival Kicks Off May 8 With “Dr. No”

The NoMa (north of Massachusetts Avenue) Business Improvement District (BID) will host a summer-long James Bond Film Festival from May 8 through Aug. 28, 2008.

Free and open to the public, the outdoor festival will feature 16 of the best Bond flicks from 1962 through 2006. Each film showing will be preceded by an "Oddjob" look-alike contest, with all contestants given the chance to toss their bowler hats at a statue. Viewers also can dress up as other Bond film characters. For a schedule of movies, visit www.nomabid.org.

The Bond films will be shown each Thursday night beginning at dusk, rain or shine, at the intersection of Florida and New York Avenues, N.E. The site is located directly across Florida Avenue from the New York Avenue Metro station and the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) headquarters. Parking is limited, so attendees are encouraged to take Metro.

“Along with Artomatic, which opens in NoMa on May 9, the James Bond Film Festival will bring thousands of visitors to this exciting new neighborhood,” said Elizabeth Price, president of the NoMa BID. “The film festival will be held on the site of what will soon become 1 million square feet of office, retail, residential and hotel space, known as Washington Gateway. In addition to having a lot of fun watching old James Bond movies, residents and visitors will witness the dramatic transformation that is underway in NoMa.”

NoMa is an emerging mixed-use neighborhood north of the U.S. Capitol and Union Station in Washington D.C. Private developers have invested almost $2 billion in 2007-08 alone with plans to develop over 20 million square feet of office, residential, hotel, and retail space in the 35-block area covered by the NoMa BID over the next 10 years.

For more information about the BID, including an interactive development map, see the BID Web site at www.nomabid.org.