04/04/2013 - Dutch second-screen film App, which gives viewers a synchronized, supplementary experience on their mobile phone during the film, is released today

The new film by young Dutch director Bobby Boermans, App [+see also:
trailer
film profile], will be released on 98 screens in the Netherlands today, courtesy of distributor Just Film Distribution. It is by far the widest release of the week; the second biggest release, Dead Man Down by Danish director Niels Arden Oplev, will be playing on only 49 screens.

App has an intriguing premise and new technological use for mobile phone users watching the film in theatres. The story of the film centres on a psychology student, Anna (Hanna Hoekstra), who finds a mysterious application or 'app' on her mobile phone after attending a wild party she doesn’t remember much about. The app then starts to take over her life, revealing things she thought nobody knew and manipulating the world around her.

What is interesting is that viewers are invited to download an app themselves onto their smartphones before going to the cinema and this app similarly comes alive during the film, giving viewers more information or different angles to view the story.

The app is prompted by a sound emitted on the soundtrack that’s too high for the human ear to hear and uses the same technology of real-life apps such as Shazam.

The filmmakers have promised that the film will be fully comprehensible for viewers without a mobile phone as well, and that the technology will also be featured on the forthcoming DVD and TV releases.

The film co-stars Isis Cabolet as Anna’s best friend and Robert de Hoog as Anna’s ex-boyfriend. The ensemble is rounded out by Matthijs van de Sande Bakhuyzen, Mark van Eeuwen, Lisa Sips and Jeroen Spitzenberger.

The film was produced by 2CFILM, part of Imagine Nation, a new joint venture of producers Robin de Levita and Kees Abrahams. The second-screen technology was developed by Service2media & Civolution.