Internet relationships – we all know someone who’s been in one. The constant attachment to cell phones and Facebook, nonstop criticism from friends and family and that little voice in the back of your head that always questions if the person on the other end isn’t really a 300 lb. 50-year-old man.

This theme is explored in the new documentary “Catfish.” After receiving a painting in the mail from an 8-year-old named Abby, 20-something New York photographer Nev Schulman begins to correspond with the girl and her Michigan family, while Schulman’s brother Ariel Schulman and best friend Henry Joost capture the whole thing on film.

“The thing about us is that we film stuff all the time anyways,” Joost said in a recent interview with Hilltop Views. “We’re filmmakers and just like remembering things.”

But what started out as just a short film about Nev and Abby’s pen-pal relationship became something that none of them could have imagined when Nev started corresponding with Abby’s older half-sister Megan.

From Facebook, Megan seemed like the perfect girl: model, singer, guitar player, dancer, horseback rider, not to mention incredibly beautiful and endearing. Yet the deeper Nev and Megan’s relationship becomes, the more Megan starts to seem too good to be true.

“I catapulted myself into this story,” Nev said. “For everything she told me that might have seemed a little strange, I came up with the perfect excuse for why that made sense to me.”

But as evidence piles up against Megan, Nev becomes weary of the constant lens on his relationship.

“I was ready to stop because I kind of knew in my gut that investigating more would probably lead to more pain,” Nev said.

But Joost and Ariel convinced Nev that the pain was an important part of the story. They didn’t know where this was going, but they felt they owed it to themselves to find out. And that’s why they went to Michigan.

Once they arrive in Michigan, the documentary takes an unexpected turn that will shock and baffle audiences while simultaneously pulling at the heartstrings.

The film debuted at Sundance amidst heavy buzz and a warm welcome. Austin is one of only five cities that will show the film in limited release. “Catfish” opens Friday at Alamo Drafthouse located on South Lamar.