On technology, loneliness, freedom and finding reality beyond the screen
What if the most radical thing you could do in 2026 was simply step away from the screen?
For Sunny Sun, the answer might be yes. As Zoom In, Zoom Out arrives at Venice, the actor finds himself at the centre of a story about a generation living somewhere between the physical world, the internet and whatever exists in between. Directed by Dong Jie, the film follows Shi as he searches for a missing friend, moving through a landscape where reality and virtual space increasingly begin to blur.
Sunny’s own relationship with technology is just as complicated. He describes himself as “anti-technology” while simultaneously building his own digital platform, RZWD, and using his work across acting, content, fashion and community to connect people rather than isolate them. For him, the internet can offer freedom, but it can also become a machine for feeding the ego, hiding vulnerability and keeping us inside versions of ourselves we have carefully constructed.
His arrival in Venice opens Vanity Teen’s new series of four conversations with young actors at the heart of this year’s festival, looking beyond the red carpet and into the people behind the performances. The 83rd Venice International Film Festival runs from September 2 to 12, 2026, while the 41st Settimana Internazionale della Critica runs alongside it; Zoom In, Zoom Out screens in competition on September 3.
In this first conversation, Sunny talks about technology, human connection, The Matrix, the personal story that made him fight to join Zoom In, Zoom Out, and why the future might be less interesting than simply learning how to live in the present.
SUNNY SUN – IN CONVERSATION WITH VANITY TEEN
Your career is now bringing you into an international conversation through a film that is itself about searching for someone who has disappeared. What are you personally still searching for at this stage of your life?
It’s a great honor to be with Zoom In, Zoom Out and participate in the Venice International Film Festival. So what I’m searching for now, I think, is world peace. I’m trying to settle down those human-being issues with my craft, with my love for the world, and also with other art forms, because I’m doing several things at the same time, not just acting.
I’m managing my own brand and my own platform called RZWD. It’s a platform that mainly hosts podcasts, creates content, and curates community events. Those interviews are about my friends, and they are from everywhere — from the fashion industry, from the film industry, and then maybe there are actors, actresses, creators, artists, etc. We try to share their spirit and thoughts with the audience.
So my goal and target for the future might be sharing goodwill, goodness of heart, and good content with the audience. This is what I’m searching for now.
The internet has given your generation the ability to constantly reinvent itself. Do you think that makes young people freer, or simply better at hiding?
This is a really good question. Actually, I’m a person who’s really anti-technology, although I’m embracing those new things and witnessing the evolution of the generation. But in my core, I’m kind of a person who’s really anti-technology.
I feel like we human beings seem to invent things that improve our lives. In a way, yes — efficiency, maybe transportation, communication, or entertainment. We can receive things really efficiently, but at the same time, there must be some problems that occur in our lives.
I think our world is now at the peak of globalization. We seem to be able to connect with people really easily because we’ve got FaceTime, we’ve got messenger apps, and we can communicate with different kinds of people every second. But I don’t think it gets us closer.
I think the internet and technology are separating us because nowadays people are living in an increasingly narrow atmosphere created by themselves. The messages and information that we absorb are more related to ourselves, so they feed our egos more and more. It’s harder for us to sync with different kinds of people.
So I prefer to withdraw from technology or the internet and have more and more sports activities, go to museums, and travel with my friends to replace online interaction.
That’s the communication or interaction that I’m always looking forward to, because having people standing in front of you is totally different from texting them through your phone or FaceTime. You can get that instant feedback in the moment.
I think we should balance the time that we spend on the internet because the internet kind of allows people to grow their egos so efficiently. We’re all scrolling on our phones every day and looking at Instagram or different kinds of social media, and we can only see the good sides of different kinds of people. They show the best of themselves. They present their good looks, good style, maybe something funny.
Aside from social media or technology, I think human beings are used to hiding their deeper parts because that part of ourselves is really fragile. And it needs trust to show your whole self to others.
I think without social media, we human beings would always hide something deep. So no matter whether there’s social media or not, we love to hide. Maybe social media grows this kind of ability to hide secrets, or the parts that we don’t want to show others.
In a way, I think we are getting freer on the internet to act like someone — to show the perfect version of yourself — but we are actually faking something at the same time. For sure, on the internet we are being something that we really admire or look forward to, but at the same time, we are faking ourselves too.
I don’t know how to identify this kind of freedom, but anyway, I’m always being as real as I can, whether in front of the media, on the internet, or in my living, in my offline mode. I think I’m always so free to be me.
So, to me, get away from the internet. Get away from those comments, whether they’re correct or wrong on the internet. Enjoy every moment with yourself. That’s what I’m doing every day. I think this is the real freedom.
In Zoom In, Zoom Out, the characters move between the physical city and virtual spaces, until the boundary between the two starts to dissolve. Where do you think your generation is actually living now?
This is a funny question. Yeah, this is what our film is talking about. It’s about the moment in our generation right now, right here. The internet and reality seem like they are combining and blending together, so it’s hard to separate them anymore.
I think this is the first scenario that has happened in the whole history of human beings. This is the first time that we’re blending stuff together and fooling ourselves.
Why I say we are fooling ourselves is because I’m a Matrix believer. I really admire the concept and philosophy behind The Matrix. So I think we are living in that kind of world, or maybe worse, because we aren’t aware that we are in the Matrix.
What you feel, what you see, that moving around so-called reality — we believe in this kind of pattern so naturally. I think awareness is really important.
In the film The Matrix, Neo himself is leaving the real world that he used to believe in. The reality that he used to believe in is a fraud, right? So for us, it’s much worse because we have three layers. We have our physical mode right now, and then we have the Matrix mode, and then we still have the internet mode.
So we are getting deeper into the Matrix and keep fooling ourselves. Everything makes you believe that it is reality. And then everything you are connected to shapes what you are.
So yeah, I think it’s a really hard time for us.
We seem more modernized than the people who lived in the past, but I don’t know. Is it true that we are much smarter than the people in the past, or what? I don’t know.
Maybe there are no answers at all, so I just want to find my peace, and then I try my best to leave the Matrix.
Shi is searching for someone else, but the deeper journey seems to be about confronting his own loneliness. What part of Shi did you understand immediately, and what part did you have to fight to understand?
Okay, let me share a story.
Actually, I received the script at the very beginning, and during that period I was shooting a TV series. My habit is that I don’t really want to read something new while my character is shooting at the moment because I think the new script will distract my focus.
So I rejected Dong Jie and the production because I was focusing on my job at the moment. I didn’t have the room, time, or space to read the new script.
One of the producers of Zoom In, Zoom Out, called Dafa, is a really good friend of mine. She kept asking me to read the script. I kept rejecting her for a long time. Then one day I received a message from her again. She was still asking me to read the script, but she also told me that she had just finished her surgery because she had been through a car accident. A horrible accident.
At that time, I was really shocked because I never thought I would face something like this.
I’m really thankful that she kept thinking about me and wanted me to take the role, but what really made me feel guilty was that when she woke up after her surgery, the first thing she wanted to achieve was to ask me to read the script.
So that night, I finished reading it, and I loved the story so much. I promised her I would try my best to join the production.
Yeah, so I thank Dafa so much. I’m so grateful and thankful that I got this opportunity.
After reading the script, I found out that it had a really new angle on modern society. When I was reading the script, I imagined all the visuals that would happen in the movie. The film already appeared in my mind through the words. I was so surprised.
I loved the writing by Dong Jie, and I could see the movie through his creation. I love this kind of feeling, so I trust him a lot.
A month later, I finally met Dong Jie and the executive producer Wang Hongwei in Hangzhou. We found out that we were really into each other and wanted to work together. So, with all their trust, I decided I must participate in this role.
At that moment, my agent and my manager asked me to reject this project, but I begged for it.
I told them this would be a new style of movie. I must participate in Zoom In, Zoom Out.
Finally, I was really thankful to my agent and colleagues because they trusted my opinion and my decision. I trusted Zoom In, Zoom Out, and we made it.
So the point of the question is: what did I fight for?
It’s not about understanding Shi in the film. It’s about fighting for the opportunity in real life.
Yeah, so that’s what I’m fighting for.
And then I think because Shi’s living style is quite common in society at the moment, there isn’t much to misunderstand.
I think Dong Jie is a really great director to brainstorm with. I can figure out the character with Dong Jie through his script and the discussions between us. I think it’s quite efficient for us to complete the character.
Write a letter to your future self that you would only send if the internet disappeared tomorrow. What would you want him to remember about who you were before everything became searchable?
Wow, creative question.
To me, I’m a person who always lives at the moment. In my philosophy, there is no past, present, or future, because all three dimensions are one.
So what I will write for the future me, I would say: always live in the moment. And then keep searching, exploring with your adventurous spirit, and embrace those uncertainties.
I think that’s the most beautiful thing to get along with.
PR Agency: Golin Ketchum