Stellenbosch-based Mxit has said it will debut what it’s calling the first full-length feature film to premiere on a social network when it begins showing A Lucky Man, a film about former gang boss Ernie “Lastig” Solomon, this week.
Mxit users can download the movie using the company’s newly launched Cinemo app. A Lucky Man has been broken into 18 four-minute episodes. A new episode is being uploaded every weekday at 10am from 18 February, more than a month before the film is released to the cinema circuit.
“We know the power of video and want to use this to encourage conversations about social issues such as drug abuse, HIV/Aids and gangsterism,” says Marlon Parker, vice-president of Mxit Reach, the company’s “platform for social good”. Cinemo has three content streams. It has movies, of which A Lucky Man is the first, public service announcements on issues such as condom use, and music videos.
Mxit says that since Cinemo’s launch in January, the app has attracted more than 90 000 subscribers. “We have seen great conversations happen around the social issues raised. These chats are used to raise awareness of and direct users to Mxit communities and services where they can get help should they need it,” says Parker.
Written and directed by Gordon Clarke, A Lucky Man follows Solomons on his search for identity and belonging in a society smothered by crime, violence and abuse, Mxit says.
It says the Cinemo app has been specifically designed for feature phones and is compatible with more than 3 000 handsets. The files are compressed for the feature phone market and are not larger than 2MB each. — (c) 2013 NewsCentral Media