Tom Shoval’s documentary A Letter To David, which is playing in Berlinale Special, marks a return to the festival for the Israeli filmmaker – but not in a circumstance he could have imagined when his first feature, Youth, played in Panorama back in 2013. Shoval described A Letter To David as a “multi-layered cinematic letter” to his friend David Cunio, who was taken hostage by Hamas with his brother Ariel from the Nir Oz kibbutz on October 7, 2023. A Letter To David is produced by Alona Refua, Maya Fischer and Roy Bareket of Israel’s Green Productions and Nancy Spielberg of US-based Playmount Productions. It was financed by Israeli broadcaster Hot8, Israeli fund The New Fund For Cinema And Television, as well as Jewish focused philanthropic organisations The Blavatnik Family Foundation, Boston Rose and Jewish Story Partners.
Berlinale Embraces Israeli Hostage Documentary ‘A Letter To David’
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