Catfish (2010)

Directors:

Henry Joost
Ariel Schulman

Release Date:

2 December 2010 (Netherlands)

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

Don't let anyone tell you what it is.

Plot:

Young filmmakers document their colleague's budding online friendship with a young woman and her family which leads to an unexpected series of discoveries.

Plot Keywords:

Deception | Painting | Photograph | Photographer | Facebook

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Melody C. Roscher	...	Herself
Ariel Schulman	...	Himself (as Rel Schulman)
Yaniv Schulman	...	Himself (as Nev Schulman)
Angela Wesselman-Pierce	...	Herself (as Angela Wesselman)

Directed by
Henry Joost
Ariel Schulman

Produced by
Andrew Jarecki	....	producer
Henry Joost	....	producer
Ryan Kavanaugh	....	executive producer
Brett Ratner	....	executive producer
Ariel Schulman	....	producer
Marc Smerling	....	producer
Zachary Stuart-Pontier	....	co-producer
Tucker Tooley	....	executive producer
Colin Wilhm	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Mark Mothersbaugh

Cinematography by
Henry Joost
Ariel Schulman

Film Editing by
Zachary Stuart-Pontier

Production Management
Christopher Kulikowski	....	post-production supervisor

Sound Department
Coll Anderson	....	sound re-recording mixer
Paul Capuano	....	dolby sound consultant
Matt Snedecor	....	sound effects editor

Camera and Electrical Department
Joe Anderson	....	additional cinematographer

Editorial Department
Victoria Anderson	....	editorial assistant
Sam Daley	....	colorist
Danny Elhaj	....	post-production assistant
Perri B. Frank	....	post supervisor
Jordan Lindblad	....	assistant editor
Patrick McGuinn	....	digital intermediate producer
Daniel Silverman	....	on-line editor

Other crew
Daniel Herther	....	executive assistant: mr. kavanaugh
Thomas Loftus	....	senior vice president of business and legal affairs
Kasia Nabialczyk	....	assistant: Brett Ratner
Raella Rothman	....	production assistant
Tara Sad	....	transcriptionist
Jeff Sanders	....	legal services

Thanks
J.J. Abrams	....	special thanks
Dan Beirne	....	special thanks
André Des Rochers	....	special thanks
Tony Gilroy	....	special thanks
Aimee Gonzales	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Supermarché
• Hit The Ground Running Films

Distributors

• Alliance Films (2010) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Universal Pictures (2010) (USA) (theatrical)
• Eagle Films (2010) (Non-USA) (all media) (middle east)
• Momentum Pictures (2010) (UK) (all media)
• Rogue (2010) (USA) (all media)
• Universal Studios Home Entertainment (2011) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)

Other Companies

• Digital Post Services  delivery and international servicing
• Dolby Laboratories  sound mix
• Gray Krauss Des Rochers  legal services
• Relativity Media  funding
• Ritholz Levy Sanders Chidekel & Fields  legal services

Also Known As:

"Catfish" - Israel (Hebrew title) (alternative transliteration)
"Sum" - Poland (imdb display title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some sexual references

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #46237) | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba) | Canada:G (Quebec) | UK:12A | Ireland:12A | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Michigan, USA

Company:

Supermarché

Trivia:

One of Angela's and Megan's "real" friends on Facebook who shared songs and advice turned out to also be a fictional character called Denton Rose who won America's Dream Date as a fictional character in 2006. The character appeared on Fox, and the WSJ and was offered the lead role in a DreamWorks film.

Quotes:

Yaniv Schulman:[First lines] If this is your documentary, you're doing a bad job.
Ariel Schulman:Why?
Yaniv Schulman:Because you're catching me when I don't want to talk about things.
Ariel Schulman:How should we do it?
Yaniv Schulman:Set it up, organise a time with me, put together some materials, emails, we'll get the Facebook conversations printed out and we'll really talk about it.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Community: Custody Law and Eastern European Diplomacy (#2.18)" (2011)

Soundtrack:

Tennessee Stud

Inspires Awe/Revulsion, Difficult to Review

The Awe is from the reality uncovered behind the mystery the first half of the film is devoted to investigating. There are a few moments of fantastic surprise.

The Revulsion one will likely discover occurs during the thinking/discussion that occurs after the film, when they realize the amount of manipulation by the filmmakers on both their subjects within the film and the audience. With their endless pasted-on smirks, its hard to discern which of the two they perceive to be the bigger dupes. Unlike films (like the comparably classic MAN BITES DOG) that explore similar themes of manipulation and non-fiction/fiction blurring with intelligence and dignity, these filmmakers have taken a story with a real humane potential and bankrupted their morals to create a sensational tabloid-like experience, more likely to titillate certain members of the Youtube Generation/make a few bucks/create some buzz.

Inevitably, Catfish is a challenge to review because to continue to discuss why the film inspires such varied emotions would be to give too much away. And to encourage one to see the film in order to further the conversation would be to promote the careers of people who have no business meddling in non-fiction (or is it? In this case, who cares?).

If only there was a way to see it for free... I'm sure the Youtube Generation can think of something.