Dutch thriller pioneers smartphone ‘second screens’ in cinema

AMSTERDAM (AFP) ― Dutch thriller “APP,” about a mysterious personal assistant application that takes over mobile phones, requires viewers for the first time to look at their smartphones in the cinema to view extra footage.

In the film, nefarious app “Iris” ― which happens to be the name of the personal assistant found on Apple’s iPhone, Siri, written backwards ― takes control of the smartphone of the heroine, 21-year-old psychology student Anna.

“We wanted to make a film about mobile phones, about how the technology can turn on us,” Edvard van ‘t Wout of production company 2CFilm told AFP at a press viewing on Wednesday.

Van ‘t Wout says this is the first time that such “second screen” technology has been used in a cinema.

The film begins with a parody of the typical request from cinemas and asks viewers to “kindly to turn on their mobile phones.”

Similar technology has however been used in films to be viewed at home.

The idea behind “APP” is simple: viewers download application software to their smartphones or tablets and activate it in the cinema.

Film content within the app is activated at specific points in the film thanks to inaudible signals in the soundtrack.