Tom Shoval’s documentary, Letter to David, an intimate and heartbreaking look at David Cunio, a hostage kidnapped by Hamas from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, premiered on Friday at the 75th Berlinale, the Berlin International Film Festival, and the director spoke of his hope that David would soon return to his family.
“It’s a love letter for David,” said Shoval in an interview before the screening of the documentary, which was produced by Nancy Spielberg. “There’s a great nobility of spirit and strength about the whole Cunio family, they gave me their trust and cooperation to tell their story.” One of David’s brothers, Ariel, was also taken hostage and is also still being held. Neither David nor Ariel is set to be released in the current hostage deal. David was kidnapped with his wife and twin daughters, who were released in the November 2023 hostage deal, and Ariel was taken with his partner, Arbel Yehoud, who was released in January 2025.
This screening of this extraordinary documentary, held in front of a rapt audience, about 10 of whom wore yellow ribbon pins symbolizing the hostages, had deep resonance for several reasons.
The first is that David has a special connection to the Berlinale, because he, as a young non-professional, starred in Shoval’s first feature film, Youth, alongside his twin brother, Eitan Cunio, which premiered at the festival in 2013. It garnered international attention and David won praise for his performance. It is a dark story of two brothers whose family is in dire economic straits and who make a misguided decision to kidnap a wealthy girl to try to pay their father’s debts. The kidnapping angle, which was violent and upsetting 12 years ago, now seems bizarre and ironic.
“When I saw the film again after October 7, I felt that reality has kidnapped my film,” said Shoval. “I saw David now not as the kidnapper, but as the hostage.
A personal connection
Back in 2012, the young director became close to his actors, and the documentary is extremely emotional because David is more than a headline to him. He teared up during our interview as he spoke about David and his family.
“When I first met David and Eitan and met the family, I felt part of it completely. There is something so strong about the Cunio family, about their love, and you see it in the film. A hug is hug with them … They hug like their life depended on that,” he said in a Q&A following the film. Talking about a hug between the brothers shown in the film, he said, “Every time I saw this hug [while working on the documentary], I wanted to keep on going with it, and I thought that this is the image of hope.”
Shoval acknowledged how much the Cunio brothers contributed to Youth and to his career. “Until today, I treasure their appearance in my film as the most generous gift I ever got – one that gave me my vocation.”
Shoval also spoke about how, although David received the kind of rave reviews for his natural and compelling performance in Youth that more experienced actors can only dream about, he chose not to pursue acting and became an electrician.
Asked why David made this decision, Shoval smiled and told an anecdote that underscored the deep connection between the twin brothers and the pain of their separation. “David asked me about going into acting. He thought that it was something that he and Eitan could do together, because they loved working on the film together so much. But I explained that no, each of them would have to work separately, there are very few parts for brothers. So that was it. They were only interested in acting if they could do it together.”
While Eitan tells the story of nearly burning to death with his family in their safe room, the documentary uses no news footage from October 7. “The news was full of images of graphic violence and horror,” said Shoval. “But I didn’t want to use that because I think it’s blinding… I wanted to use the cinema and the material I had from them and I tried to create a path so that you can see humanity and life.”
Letter to David consists of recent interviews with the family, mainly Eitan, as well as the Cunio brothers’ audition and scenes from the finished film. As he worked on the film, Shoval found something fascinating: footage from a documentary David and Eitan made about their own lives in Nir Oz in 2012, that Shoval thought might be used for a behind-the-scenes featurette, but which lay forgotten until now.
This footage includes scenes of the brothers on the kibbutz, clowning around and celebrating special occasions with their Argentine-immigrant family.
Another treasure in this found footage are scenes of Shiri and Yarden Bibas from 2012. Shiri was kidnapped to Gaza along with her young sons, Kfir and Ariel, and she was seen in one of the most upsetting clips made by Hamas on October 7, clutching her children in terror. But in Letter to David, she is radiant and relaxed, talking about her connection to the Cunios, whom she grew up with. Yarden Bibas, her husband, who was kidnapped and released earlier this month, also looks young and happy in a clip in the documentary. Other Nir Oz residents who were among the 30 or so who were murdered and 70 who were kidnapped are seen in happier days.
Another important aspect of the Berlinale screening is simply that it took place at all, and that the audience was respectful. At the 2024 Berlinale, when Israeli director Amos Gitai’s latest movie, Shikun, was screened in the same auditorium where Letter to David was shown, audience members repeatedly interrupted the Q&A with shouts calling for a ceasefire.
But the audience at Letter to David listened quietly to Shoval during the Q&A, and spoke about their concern for the hostages.
Michael Stütz, co-director of Berlinale film programming, who interviewed Shoval during the Q&A, said he was very grateful to Shoval for bringing Letter to David to the Berlinale. “I know last year, we missed a great opportunity to show solidarity and empathy.”
The Berlinale’s new director, Tricia Tuttle, introduced Letter to David, an important statement of support in a festival with hundreds of movies. She also took part in a vigil on the red carpet calling for the release of David and all the other hostages. A second and very different film about a hostage, Holding Liat by Brendon Kramer, is set to be screened early next week at the festival, and this film will throw additional light on the plight of the hostages.
Shoval said he hoped that Letter to David would be seen around the world and that both Cunios being held hostage would be home with their family in the near future. “I promised Eitan that this is a film with no end. When David and Ariel come back, I will shoot the ending. So it’s waiting,” said Shoval, to loud applause.