• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, December 10, 2015

Mashable is bringing new meaning to the catchwords “long-form video” with the release of its first full-length feature film, part of an exclusive promotional and distribution agreement with distributor FilmBuff. The deal includes original content produced by Mashable exploring related subjects and should provide a template for similar deals in future.

Mashable and FilmBuff are joining forces for the premiere of “CodeGirl,” a documentary directed by Lesley Chilcott, who previously produced “An Inconvenient Truth.” It is about teenage girls contributing to their communities with technology and competing in the Technovation Challenge for a $10,000 prize.

The subject is especially timely in light of growing attention to the under-representation of women in the “STEM” disciplines -- science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The documentary, set to debut on January 6 in conjunction with CES, will be hosted on Mashable, as well as the publisher’s AppleTV app. Original content produced by Mashable will be distributed across all its social platforms.

Mashable chief strategy officer Adam Ostrow highlighted the important role of platform partnerships in the publisher’s push to reach new audiences: “We believe delivering premium long form video content on over the top platforms like Apple TV represents an important part to our distribution strategy going forward.”

Like other online publishers, Mashable has struck a number of distribution partnerships with big technology companies over the last year or so. The Mashable Collective, unveiled in March, is responsible for experimenting with new technologies to deliver content to users in new ways, as well as reaching users on behalf of brand advertisers.

Among other things, it is overseeing Mashable’s presence on Snapchat Discover, as well as Vine, and Instagram. Mashable joined Apple News in September.