The film dubbed North America’s first interactive feature made its way to stores this week with the Mongrel Media DVD release of Late Fragment.

The National Film Board/Canadian Film Centre copro follows the interweaving plotlines of three previously unrelated characters, all participating in a restorative justice group. The lives of an emotionally wounded security guard, a haunted mother and a troubled performer intersect, but the outcome is directly determined by choices viewers make.

The film, co-written and directed by CFC talents Daryl Cloran, Anita Doron and Mateo Guez, premiered at TIFF ’07 and has since made the rounds at film and arts festivals. The complicated interactive nature of the film has resulted in some unique exhibition scenarios, including private screenings where audiences have chosen preferred settings on individual screens, as well as public screenings where the plot has been selected by a guest VJ before the show.

Andrew Frank, marketing and sales manager at Mongrel, feels the interactive user-selection format, similar in style to a choose-your-own-adventure novel, is best suited for a home-theater setting.

‘I can’t think of a better format for the film,’ Frank tells Playback Daily. ‘If you’re watching it in a room with 400 people and someone else is determining what happens, it defeats the whole purpose of the film. With the DVD, you can sit around with a small group and really play with the film, passing around the clicker and seeing where everyone’s decisions take the story.’

With the multitudes of combinations and plot options, Frank believes that there are literally billions of different outcomes for the film’s storyline.

Frank was quick to dismiss the risks involved in putting out a DVD with no official theatrical release for the film.

‘The CFC/NFB partnership really mitigated any risks involved,’ Frank says. ‘Of course, it all depends on the rental market, but the early outlook is very promising.’

Producer Ana Serrano believes the film has hit at just the right time for audiences to be ready for this kind of experimentation.

‘If you look at the trends in film over the last few years, people have responded well to difficult and non-linear plotlines,’ Serrano says. ‘Films like Memento, Babel, and even recently Vantage Point, have done well because audiences like a good puzzle.’

‘When you add that to how much audiences are becoming used to getting much more involved in technology, you see how [Late Fragment] is where the two trends converge,’ she adds. ‘People are getting a puzzle film, but one where they can contribute to the outcome and rearrange it to watch again.’

In addition to the DVD release, Serrano plans to continue screening the film at restorative justice workshops, arts and film festivals, as well as trying to organize web screenings.

How-to guides to the DVD, trailers and film info are available on the film’s site, www.latefragment.com.