This film was released 17th December 2010, and is no longer screening.

If The Social Network dramatised the genesis of Facebook, this startling self-styled ‘reality thriller’ explores how communications technology is bringing people together but not in ways they expect. Nev Schulman, a New York dance photographer, gets a surprise when a little girl in Michigan posts him a painting she’s copied from one of his pictures. Two filmmakers (Nev’s brother Ariel and co-director Henry Joost) then start documenting events as Nev keeps in contact by Facebook, e-mail and phone, gradually getting to know Abby and her mom Angela, and clicking with older sister Megan to an increasingly flirtatious degree. Knowing any more would steal the film’s thunder, so you’ll have to take our word that it gets creepy, unsettling, and compellingly gripping as it gradually lays bare fundamental human failings and insecurities. Can we really believe what’s happening? It’s a key question in this brave new world where the word ‘friend’ may not quite mean what it once did. (Notes by Trevor Johnston).