Director Daniel Zvereff Debuts Black-White Space Allegory Starring Lucy Liu and Morgan Spector

Independent filmmaker Daniel Zvereff’s first feature, the monochrome animation “Moonfish,” debuted at the Venice Film Festival following a Biennale College Cinema grant. The narrative centers on two astronauts, voiced by Lucy Liu and Morgan Spector, tasked with meeting a corporate quota on the moon to earn their return home, reflecting today’s paradox of constant connectivity and growing personal isolation. Zvereff designed the 2D project to be completed solo if necessary, but over nine months he enlisted animators Hoss Wheeler and Devin Grover to finish the work.

Liu also provides the voice for a talking fish that functions like a miner’s canary, signaling danger amid routine tasks. Spector, new to voice work, describes his character’s descent into madness and the film’s depiction of a moon-based underclass exploited by an authoritarian corporate-computer machine. While the film’s tone is stark, Zvereff says the creative process led him to end on a hopeful note about humanity’s resilience.