The Cunios, a documentary feature that tells the moving story of one Argentine-Israeli family’s extraordinary, harrowing experiences at Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, is in the works as Keshet International, a global content distributor founded in Israel, and International Emmy Award-winning production company Anima Films, are teaming up to find pre-sale partners.
David Cunio, his wife, Sharon, and their twin 3-year-old daughters were taken hostage during the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack in which a quarter of Nir Oz’s population was murdered and kidnapped, several of whom are still held hostage in Gaza.
While Sharon and the girls were released in the November 23 deal, David is still held captive. David’s brother, Ariel Cunio, was kidnapped from Nir Oz with his partner, Arbel Yehoud. Ariel is still in Hamas captivity and like David, is not expected to be released in the first stage of this hostage deal.
Arbel Yehoud was released on Thursday. About 80 others are still being held in Gaza by Hamas.
The great-grandmother of the Cunio family, Argentina-born Esther, was almost killed by terrorists who entered her home during the massacre but managed to save herself by chatting about Argentina, Pope Francis, and Lionel Messi. A video of Esther taken by the terrorists that showed her holding one of their rifles and talking about the pope and Messi went viral.
Pope call
While reporting on the attacks in Israel, international journalist Henrique Cymerman received a call from his friend, His Holiness Pope Francis, and eventually, Cymerman helped organize two meetings between the pope and families of Israeli hostages.
Cymerman said, “We pray for the release of [the] younger sons David and Ariel Cunio before their father, Louis, succumbs to the cancer ravaging his body.”
Julian Rousso, founding partner and president of Anima Films, said, “When Henrique and Netanel [Semrik, an international publisher and founder of Contento Now] came to us with the Cunio family’s story, we knew we had to find a way to make it happen. This is a dramatic and deeply painful case that deserves to be shared with the world.”
Kelly Wright, Keshet International’s managing director of distribution, added, “This is such an incredible human story of survival and resilience before you even factor in the Pope’s involvement.”
Semrik said, “The privilege of accompanying and documenting the Cunio family during the days of war has been truly profound.”
Keshet International is currently distributing a collection of locally produced reports covering the Hamas attack, called Inside Israel: This is War. It was produced for the Keshet 12 channel by the country’s longest-running, popular news magazine show, UVDA, which is produced and hosted by Ilana Dayan.
The Inside Israel: This is War collection includes the International Emmy Award-nominated UVDA film called Maya and Itay Regev – Siblings in Captivity.