Teenage pregnancy film "Juno" wins Rome festival

By Silvia Aloisi

ROME (Reuters) - "Juno," the story of an American teenager faced with an unplanned pregnancy, won the top prize at the Rome film festival on Saturday.

The film is directed by 30-year-old Canadian-born Jason Reitman, whose 2005 comedy "Thank you for Smoking" scooped a string of awards and was nominated for two Golden Globes.

"It's terrifying to bring your film to another culture," Reitman said, calling his film "feminine."

"They say you don't really know another culture until you can make them laugh, so to hear your laughter it warms my heart and makes me feel that perhaps we are closer than we all think," he said.

Critics praised the performance by actress Ellen Page as Juno MacGuff, the quick witted young woman who falls pregnant at her first sexual experience.

Suddenly plunged into adulthood, she sets out to find a suitable set of parents to adopt her unborn child.

The film, one of 14 titles in competition, also casts Jennifer Garner as the affluent, prospective adoptive mother whose marriage is not as idyllic as it seems.

The jury, made up of 50 ordinary movie-goers, also awarded a special prize to Iranian director Abolfazl Jalili for his film on a renowned Persian poet, "Hafez."