One of the truly wonderful things about social media is that it enables you to connect with people you might never have met otherwise and, in some cases, might never meet in an off-line setting at all. But how do you know the people you are connecting with over Facebook, Twitter or even LinkedIn are, in fact, who they say they are?

That's one of the questions raised by the much-buzzed-about documentary Catfish, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January and is making its way into select theaters in New York, Los Angeles, Austin and San Francisco beginning today, September 17.

The documentary, shot by New York City-based filmmakers Ariel Schuman and Henry Joost, follows the unfolding of a friendship between Ariel's 24-year-old brother, Nev, and an 8-year-old girl from Michigan named Abby. Their first interaction takes place via Facebook message in late 2007, in which Abby asks for Nev's permission to create a painting from a photograph he had shot for a newspaper.

The message eventually lead to the exchange of further Facebook messages, e-mails, texts, phone calls and physical gifts with the rest of Abby's family, as well as a long-distance romantic relationship with her 19-year-old sister Megan. Increasingly, however, details about the family's life fail to add up, and so the three 20-somethings take a road trip to Michigan to uncover the truth.

Although there's been some debate about how much of the documentary is real, and how much may have been staged for the cameras, it's a charming and, at times, poignant caveat about the nature of our online relationships.

Have you ever formed a long-distance friendship or romantic relationship with someone online?

Catfish Trailer





