Back in 2013, Israeli director Tom Shoval premiered his film Youth at the Berlinale. The drama starred brothers Eitan and David Cunio and revolved around dramatic events and a kidnapping. Tragically, on 7 October 2023, during the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, David Cunio, one of the film’s leads, was kidnapped in real life and remains in captivity. Devastated and overwhelmed, Shoval revisited the decade old material they had created together. The result is A Letter to David, a deeply personal and emotionally charged new work combining unused footage, intimate reflections, and the director’s own narrative to reexamine the original story in the harsh light of current events.
“I didn’t know how to cope with the situation. I had made a film about a kidnapping, and now our actor had really been kidnapped. I started asking myself why I had created something that life later mirrored in such a painful way. I wasn’t sure I could keep making films. The images from the original film no longer mean what they used to. They carry a new weight now. I began writing down what I wanted to say to David. I wondered if he might be thinking the same things I am,” Shoval told the audience during the post-screening discussion.
Initially, Shoval envisioned this new edit as a message for just one viewer – David. But as he sifted through the unused footage and behind-the-scenes moments, he realised he was capturing something larger: a world that no longer exists. Life interrupted, mirroring the fate of many families whose lives have been devastated. “That’s when I knew I had to turn this into a feature film. But it won’t be finished until David returns. What you saw today is a film without an ending,” Shoval explained, and concluded on a note of unwavering hope: he remains confident that his friend and colleague will be rescued.
