BERLIN, Germany — The Berlin Film Festival on Friday screened the premiere of a documentary about an Israeli hostage held by Hamas, a decision made as the festival tries to move on from controversy over statements made last year by filmmakers about the Gaza war.
“A Letter to David” by Israeli filmmaker Tom Shoval is a tribute to David Cunio, who was kidnapped by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023, and is still held hostage in Gaza.
Cunio’s wife, Sharon, and their twin three-year-old daughters were also taken hostage along with Sharon’s sister and her daughter. David’s younger brother Ariel Cunio and his girlfriend, Arbel Yehoud, were taken captive as well.
Sharon Cunio, her daughters, her sister and her sister’s daughter were all released in November 2023. Yehoud was released at the end of January 2025. Ariel remains in captivity.
Shoval previously featured Cunio and his twin brother Eitan in his award-winning debut feature film “Youth,” which premiered at the Berlinale in 2013. That film revolved around the bond between two brothers and their decision to carry out a kidnapping.
David and Sharon’s relationship goes back to “Youth,” for which she handled press relations. The pair fell in love while making the award-winning movie.
In the new film, screening in the festival’s “special” category, Shoval uses excerpts from “Youth” alongside unseen footage and interviews with Cunio’s family members to create a tribute to his missing friend.
They include David’s twin brother Eitan, his mother, his wife Sharon Cunio and twin daughters — who were also captured by Hamas terrorists on October 7 but released after 52 days.
Shoval said he had decided to make the film because he did not want David to be perceived as just “a hostage you see on a poster.”
David Cunio, right, with his twin brother, Eitan Cunio, in footage for the film ‘Letter to David,’ being screened at the February 2025 Berlinale and made by filmmaker Tom Shoval after David Cunio was taken hostage by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023 (Courtesy)
“He is also a real person. He was an actor at some point in his life, he has a family, he has a mother, he has a father. He exists not only as an image,” Shoval told AFP.
“It was very important to me to convey this, and also to show the pain that the family is going through.”
‘Torn apart’
In the film, David’s twin Eitan shows a tattoo of stars on his wrist — which David also has — as he talks about his brother.
Eitan also takes the viewer on a tour of his and David’s old homes in the kibbutz, giving a harrowing blow-by-blow account of what happened to them on October 7.
Sharon Aloni Cunio, 34, her husband David Cunio, 34, and their twin daughters, Yuli and Emma, 3, were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023. Sharon, Yuli and Emma were released on November 27, 2023. (Courtesy)
For Eitan, being separated from his brother has been “like being torn apart,” and he is “not the same person anymore,” Shoval said.
The Berlinale was heavily criticized last year after several filmmakers were accused of making antisemitic remarks on stage at the closing awards ceremony.
US filmmaker Ben Russell, wearing a Palestinian scarf, accused Israel of committing “genocide” in the Gaza Strip, while Palestinian filmmaker Basel Adra said the Palestinian population was being “massacred” by Israel.
Ahead of this year’s festival, the Berlinale published guidelines on its website on freedom of expression, antisemitism and showing solidarity with the Palestinian cause.
“We… stand by the right of our filmmakers to talk about the impulses behind their work and their experiences of the world. The Berlinale welcomes different points of view, even if this creates tension or controversy,” they said.
Tricia Tuttle, who took over as the new director of the Berlinale in April last year, said she was “surprised” about the backlash against the comments made last year, describing them as “free speech.”
Red-carpet vigil
“I’m more upset that there wasn’t a sort of place in the festival for people to feel empathy or hear empathy for the hostages too,” she told AFP.
“We didn’t speak up for David Cunio last year, and I feel like we really missed an opportunity.
“While I want to be incredibly careful that we don’t continue to silence voices that are expressing sorrow and solidarity and an urge for Palestinian statehood, I also want to make sure that we show that we care about people who we have a relationship with.”
At the opening of the Berlinale on Thursday, Tuttle joined a vigil for David Cunio on the red carpet.
US filmmaker Ben Russell (R) and French filmmaker Guillaume Cailleau pose with the Encounters Award for Best Film for their film ‘Direct Action’ on the red carpet after the awards ceremony of the 74th Berlinale International Film Festival on February 24, 2024, in Berlin, Germany. (Tobias Schwarz/AFP)
Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack saw terrorists invade Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 251.
Seventy-three of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 35 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Hamas has so far released 21 hostages — civilians, soldiers, and Thai nationals — during a ceasefire that began in January.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 46,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 20,000 combatants in battle as of January and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
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