A film about legendary ex-gang boss Ernie ‘Lastig’ Solomon will be the first full-length feature film to premiere exclusively on a social network today.
South Africa’s largest social network Mxit is the trailblazer and the film, A Lucky Man, will be available for download to Mxit users through the newly-launched Cinemo app.
Cinemo is designed specifically for feature phones and is compatible with more than 3,000 phones. Video files are no larger than 2MB and are compressed for feature phones.
The movie has been broken into 18 four-minute episodes with a new episode being uploaded every weekday at 10am from today (February 18).
Marlon Parker, Vice President of Mxit Reach, said: “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.
“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 like Freshly Ground’s popular, ‘Take me to the dance’.”
Cinemo is an app within the Mxit Reach ecosystem, the platform for social good within the company. It has approximately 90,000 subscribers on Mxit.
Parker added: “Most importantly 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. With one click a user can go from a conversation about drug abuse to the Angel Network, our anonymous drug counseling service.
“A Lucky Man reflects many of the incredibly difficult social issues South Africans face. I am looking forward to the conversations these episodes inspire.”
A Lucky Man will be released in cinemas countrywide on March 29.
