Bunnylovr
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“The Final Film Often Grows From a Process of Letting Go of Preconceived Ideas…” Editor Stephania Dulowski on Bunnylovr
In Katarina Zhu’s Sundance Competition debut, Bunnylovr, a New York City-based Chinese American cam girl (played by the writer/director) navigates a number of fraught personal relationships (her ex, terminally ill father, artist best friend and one boundary-pushing client) while also caring for a white rabbit, a gift from said client. Working with Zhu to hone and focus these storylines was editor Stephania Dulowski, a Sundance veteran who cut Haley Elizabeth Anderson’s 2024 title, Tendaberry. Below, Dulowski talks about focusing on character, delineating the film’s final beats, and how working within a commercial house has influenced her approach to editing. Filmmaker: […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Feb 10, 2025 -
“All the Delicate Layers Gently Rose to the Surface”: DP Daisy Zhou on Bunnylovr
In Bunnylovr, a Chinese American cam girl tries to reconnect with her father while managing a deteriorating relationship with one of her clients. The film, part of the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, is director Katarina Zhu directorial feature debut. Handling cinematographer duties is Daisy Zhou (The African Desperate, Suicide by Sunlight). Below, she rattles off a number of influences and goes into detail about her camera selection and approach to lighting. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 25, 2025 -
“Everything That Can Go Wrong Did” | Katarina Zhu, Bunnylovr
Films are made over many days, but some days are more memorable, and important, than others. Imagine yourself in ten years looking back on this production. What day from your film’s development, production or post do you think you’ll view as the most significant and why? The second day of the shoot will be forever seared into my memory, partly because everything that can go wrong did, but mainly because it was the moment I realized just how extraordinary my team was and how grateful I was to be surrounded by them. It was the first day that another actor, […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 25, 2025 -
“Foreign Aid for American Indies”: US in Progress 2024
Here’s a funny thing to think about: One of the best places to get a handle on what’s happening in American (and sometimes Canadian) independent film is a very long travel day away from New York, Los Angeles or Chicago, at the American Film Festival in Wroclaw, Poland, a millennium-old city with a historic Old Town. Adjacent is the very modern cineplex New Horizons, which shares its name with a sprawling summer festival and each November also hosts AFF and its industry-only sidebar, US in Progress. Described by one attendee as “foreign aid for American indies,” USIP has, over its […]
by Steve Dollar on Dec 5, 2024
