The Hostages and Missing Families Forum has called for a “day of disruption” on Tuesday to support the struggle to free the hostages, and Tom Shoval will show his documentary about David Cunio, Letter to David, in the evening at Lev Tel Aviv at 7:10 p.m.
The film, which is nominated for an Ophir Award for Best Documentary, had its world premiere at the last Berlin International Film Festival. Since then, it has received enthusiastic reviews from audiences and critics in Israel and around the world.
Ticket prices for the screening are only 20 NIS and 10 NIS for seniors. All proceeds will be transferred to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, as the Lev Cinemas chain joins the call to end the war and release the hostages.
Shoval will attend and take part in a conversation about the film.
'Letter to David is no ordinary documentary'
Letter to David is a moving and very unusual documentary about David Cunio, who was kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, along with Sharon Aloni Cunio, his wife; their twin daughters; Sharon’s sister Danielle Aloni; and Danielle’s daughter, Emilia.
In addition, David’s brother, Ariel Cunio, was kidnapped with his partner, Arbel Yehoud. David and Ariel are still being held in Gaza, while Sharon, Danielle, and their daughters were released in late November 2023, and Arbel Yehoud was released in January 2025.
Letter to David is no ordinary documentary, because Shoval has a special relationship with his subject. In 2013, he cast David and his twin brother, Eitan Cunio (whose home in Nir Oz was also attacked that day but who survived and was not kidnapped), in the movie, Youth, as teen siblings whose father is in debt and, in a plot turn that seems strange and ironic, who kidnap a wealthy classmate in order to ransom her.
Shoval and David became close on the shoot, and David’s performance won rave reviews all over the world. But he decided to not to pursue acting and to settle down on the kibbutz where he grew up and became an electrician.
The movie does not feature news footage of the attack but shows David and Eitan on the set of Youth, which gives a sense of what David is like. It also features video footage that the Cunio brothers shot on Nir Oz in 2012, for a documentary feature about their lives, in which they filmed themselves, their friends, and neighbors, and includes clips of several people who were kidnapped and murdered, including Shiri Bibas and Yarden Bibas, who speak candidly about their friendship with the Cunio brothers.
It's an unusual approach to the story of October 7 and one that paints a memorable portrait of a young man whose life hangs in the balance and who has everything to live for.