The Digital Visions of Katarina Zhu

There can be a particular sort of loneliness that creeps into early adulthood, as one often meanders in search of purpose, identity, and connection. In the digital age, that feeling is only amplified, refracted through screens where raw intimacy can become distorted. It is within this unsteady terrain that Katarina Zhu stakes her ground with her debut feature, Bunnylovr, a film that delves into modern isolation and the emotional intimacy we can or can’t find within it.

Written, directed, and produced by Zhu, the film follows Rebecca (also portrayed by Zhu), a Chinese-American woman living in New York City and splitting her time between a dead-end assistant job and her more reliable work as a cam girl. As she becomes entangled with a manipulative online client who insidiously gifts her a rare white bunny, she also navigates her sometimes-strained relationship with her artist best friend (played by Zhu’s real-life close friend and fellow producer Rachel Sennott) and confronts the reappearance and impending loss of her estranged, ill father. Across all these relationships, Rebecca finds her boundaries pushed as she attempts to understand what genuine, safe connections can look like.

Bunnylovr premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, marking a defining moment for Zhu, both professionally and personally. “It was really intense,” she recalls. “I’m obviously so immensely grateful for the opportunity, and that was the ideal festival and premiere. It was so special to be there with so much of the cast and the crew who came out, and also to be there with Rachel, who’s been one of my best friends since NYU. It was her first time at Sundance as well. That was so, so, so special.”

While Zhu got her start by honing her craft as an actor at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, she can trace her love of storytelling back to childhood. “Growing up, I read a lot, and I loved reading,” she says, recalling frequent trips to bookstores and libraries with her family. “I think that’s initially where my love of storytelling started.” Over time, her relationship with getting lost in a story deepened. “I feel like oftentimes people who are drawn to films and storytelling feel misunderstood or lonely growing up. There’s a certain connection that movies can provide that can make you feel less alone. I found a lot of comfort in movies, and they definitely were an escape,” she says. Zhu laughs as she admits to another one of her earliest cinematic motivations: an obsession with Twilight and its star. “If I’m being so honest, I think I was obsessed with Twilight and the books. And then the movies came out, and I was obsessed with Robert Pattinson. I was like, the way that I’m going to be able to meet Robert Pattinson is to become a successful actor.”

Zhu notes that online spaces became another place of refuge during her lonelier times growing up, pointing to how they can offer unexpected forms of intimacy and noting that she wanted to explore this through the relationship Rebecca develops with her online client. “During this time when I was feeling sort of a loss for connection or lonely or that I didn’t feel a sense of belonging in my real life, I felt like I looked towards media and also online communities,“ she explains. “I found a lot of connections in these online communities. I wanted to inject that through the cam girl storyline of finding connection online in spaces you might not have expected, and of those connections actually being quite meaningful—sometimes more meaningful than some of the connections that you have in real life.”

Crucially, Zhu approaches Rebecca’s cam girl work with a deliberate lack of judgment, resisting a sensationalized lens. “I was interested in portraying the life of a sex worker very...almost neutrally,” she explains. “I didn’t want to glamorize or vilify the job, or sex work in general. It was important to me to treat every area of her life with equal weight.” The result is a well-rounded character study that extends beyond any single identity. “You get this really holistic, 360-degree view of her life. Who she is as a best friend, a daughter, with her ex, as a personal assistant, and also when she’s doing her cam work.”

Like many debut features, Bunnylovr draws heavily from Zhu’s own life. The film’s exploration of estrangement in Rebecca’s relationship with her father mirrors Zhu’s personal history. “The relationship with the dad is based on my relationship with my dad,” she says. “We’re estranged, and we have been for over ten years now. That’s something that I’ve always been interested in exploring in a movie.” For Zhu, the intimacy of a first feature is something that is almost inevitable. “I think the easiest thing to do when you’re starting out is to write what you know, very personally or intimately,” she explains.

Even the film’s genesis has roots in Zhu’s own personal upheaval—as Zhu describes, Bunnylovr was born out of break up. “I was in this space of living at home alone with my mom, and I was very isolated from all my friends. I was in a really low place, and I was so desperate for connection. I think I was interested in exploring that space you’re in when you’re so heartbroken, and you’re seeking to fill this void and you’re so much more willing to do things that you might not normally do,” says Zhu, explaining that the heartbreak is as interesting as the shift that happens afterward. “I feel like whenever you come out of a breakup, once you go through the phase of mourning the breakup, I feel like there’s something that takes over and you’re less risk-averse, almost like you might be approaching people that you might not normally. I was interested in exploring that.”

Stepping into the triple role of writer, director, and actor proved both rewarding and instructive for Zhu, who expresses gratitude for the exceptional support she found on set. “As just an actor, I feel like you’re treated with kid gloves or a certain level of delicacy, right? There’s bubble wrap around you a little bit. You’re a little bit coddled,” she says. “I think as an actor and director, I felt almost even more coddled because everybody’s like, ‘Oh, we understand that you’re so many hats and that it’s really challenging, so we are really banding together to lift you up and protect you and really make sure that you have everything that you need.’”

When asked if she wants to act in her next project, Zhu says she plans to focus on writing and directing. “I really am excited to write and direct something without acting in it. But at the same time, there’s something so special about doing that. I think if you have the right team, it’s magical, and it’s almost easier than just directing or just acting because you have such a deep understanding of what you’re trying to do in both roles,” she says. Yet she knows that kind of alignment can be rare. “On my next project, there won’t be that same bubble of protection. That’s just part of the job,” she admits.

While Zhu looks ahead to her next project, challenging herself to write and direct a story set in a boarding school and centered on a character “very far apart” from her own experience, Bunnylovr stands as a deeply personal and assured debut. By portraying Rebecca’s life with empathy and honesty, Zhu reminds us that closeness is rarely simple and often messy. The film becomes a quietly powerful exploration of what it means to be a young adult navigating the modern world.

Bunnylovr is now in theaters.