iPhone application debuts at Boston film festival

The iPhone application called "Walking Cinema: Murder on Beacon Hill," a location-based adventure augmented with film-festival worthy video helping folks sleuth around the city to solve a Beacon Hill crime, will appear on the silver screen at the AMC Boston Common theatre on Sunday, April 18 as part of the Boston International Film Festival (BIFF).

A film fest first? Patrick Jerome, the director of BIFF, believes it's the first time an iPhone app has made the festival-circuit cut.

“We were just blown away at how watchable the story is in a theatrical setting,” Jerome says in a statement, adding that BIFF viewers will watch all 33 parts of the video on the big screen. “It’s quick-paced, full of juicy details, and, to our knowledge, it’s the first location-based application to screen at a film festival.”

The iPhone app, developed by Boston-based Untravel Media, follows the well-to-do Dr. George Parkman after he suddenly disappears in Nov. 1849. In the real-life mystery, the police conduct an extensive search of the city and dredge the Charles River.

According to the true story, Parkman had last been seen walking toward the Harvard Medical College. The Medical School's janitor, Ephraim Littlefield, who had a suspicion where Parkman might be found, spent two grueling nights tunneling beneath a basement laboratory looking for clues. What Littlefield discovered horrified Boston and led to one of the most sensational trials in American history.

The application contains footage from "Murder at Harvard," a PBS documentary crafted by Arlington-based director Eric Strange.

Click here for the lowdown.