Washington, D.C., June 23, 2009…The NoMa (north of Massachusetts Avenue) Business Improvement District (BID) will host “NoMa Summer Screen” — a screening of “Ray” — on Wednesday, June 24, 2009. The event — to be held rain or shine — begins with music and barbeque at 7:00 p.m.; the film, which will be captioned (in English), starts at dusk.

The theme of NoMa Summer Screen, the city’s premier summer film and cultural event, is “Music in Pictures,” films about musicians and bands. Actor Jamie Foxx won an Academy Award for his portrayal of legendary rhythm and blues musician Ray Charles in this week’s independently produced film “Ray”, originally released in 2004.

Free and open to the public, NoMa Summer Screen is held on a large grassy lot on L Street between 2nd and 3rd Streets, N.E. in Washington, D.C., just one block from the New York Avenue station on Metro’s Red Line. The site is adjacent to Union Place, a new apartment building being developed by The Cohen Companies that will deliver later this year.

Each film screening is preceded by live DJs, special guests, barbeque, and surprises. Funk, soul, boogaloo, and other types of music are provided by local DJ collective Fatback.

“Building on the success of last summer’s James Bond Film Festival, the NoMa BID is offering a fresh new concept in 2009,” said Elizabeth Price, President of the NoMa BID. “Filmgoers will be able to enjoy music, food, films, and dancing under the stars, all while seeing first-hand NoMa’s rapid and dramatic transformation.”

NoMa is a rapidly developing mixed-use neighborhood north of the U.S. Capitol and Union Station in Washington, D.C. In 2007-2008, private developers invested over $1 billion in the 35-block area covered by the NoMa BID, and have plans to develop more than 20 million square feet of office, residential, hotel, and retail space over the next ten years. For more information about the BID, including an interactive development map, see the BID Web site at nomabid.wpengine.com.