TITLE: Bunnylovr
Section: U.S. Dramatic Competition
Director: Katarina Zhu
Screenwriter: Katarina Zhu
Logline: A drifting Chinese American cam girl struggles to navigate an increasingly toxic relationship with one of her clients while rekindling her relationship with her dying estranged father. In her debut feature, writer-director and star Katarina Zhu crafts a sensitive portrait of Rebecca (Zhu), a rootless online sex worker whose yearning for connection collides with her vigilance for maintaining emotional and physical safety.
Sales agent: Utopia, WME
Panelists: Katarina Zhu (writer/director/producer/actor), Rachel Sennott (producer/actor), Perry Yung (actor), Austin Amelio (actor), Jack Kilmer (actor).
Key quotes: “Katarina and I have known each other since we were 18 years old. We went to acting school together, we were roommates for one amazing year and we’ve always just shared each other’s scripts, so Katarina was one of the first people to read Bottoms. So she sent me Bunnylovr and I was like, ‘Oh my god I’m obsessed with this.’ We were just talking about how hard it is to make an indie movie, especially when you’re a first-time writer, director and star. You really have to make it happen, you know? And Katarina did that and I’m so grateful that she allowed me to be a part of that. This is my first movie as a producer and a goal of mine is to be able to help make movies that I would want to see. That maybe I couldn’t make but I would love top go watch.
“With the character, I think Katarina does such a good job of finding the subtlety and the nuance of all our characters in every relationship and all of these amazing actors did that work too, but we had that baseline of love and friendship so we could layer a little toxicity on top.” – Rachel Sennott
Click above to watch the interview.
Deadline Studio at Sundance presented by Casamigos
