The producer/director of The Baby Formula knows timing is everything as her feature enters the festival circuit.

Not only did Alison Reid shoot the film over the course of her lead actresses’ real-life pregnancies, but one of them actually went into labor when her character was scheduled to break water.

Now, the film will compete in the internationally stocked First Film competition at the Montreal World Film Festival this month, which exec producer Paul Zimic of Grindstone Media says should lure some international distribution opps. But participating at WFF nearly cost the production the chance to participate in Telefilm’s Canada Show Reel event in New York next month, where five-minute clips of nationally made films are shown to 50 top U.S. distributors.

‘They wanted films that hadn’t been seen by the market,’ Zimic explains. ‘But they let us come because they felt that we shouldn’t miss the opportunity to compete in Montreal.’ The public funder has $135,000 in the $275,000 film.

A follow-up to Reid’s short film Succubus, The Baby Formula tracks Lilith and Athena (Angela Vint and Megan Fahlenbock), who decide to use new stem-cell science to impregnate one another. While Reid consulted with stem-cell researchers to ensure the science was accurate, she ensured the dialogue and storyline, from Richard Beattie’s script, focused on comedy.

‘It’s the only way to tell the story, really,’ she says. ‘You can’t beat them over the head with the science of it all.’

Domestically, the movie, also produced by Stephen Adams and James Mou, is scheduled to bow on Super Channel in July 2009, and Reid says the theatrical release should happen beforehand in Q4 or Q1 2009.

‘If this movie plays for one week in a major Canadian market and does well, then I think it has a definite chance to show in other theatres across the country,’ Zimic explains. The team also has its sites on Sundance, Tribeca and European film fests.

Viral marketing is planned to try to bring in audiences. Zimic and Reid are blueprinting an online video campaign that will show their two pregnant leads singing and dancing to Black Eyed Peas’ My Humps, while also developing an online blog to organically hot-topic discussion points including stem-cell research and fertility treatments. There’s no word yet on when the blog will launch, but given the film’s expert timing from the get-go, expect to see something soon.