Days after the Oct. 7 attacks, Tom Shoval felt helpless and at a loss as to how to help his friend and colleague who had been abducted by Hamas.
That friend, David Cunio, starred alongside his brother, Eitan, in the Israeli director’s debut feature film “Youth” in 2013. Shoval credits Cunio for his filmmaking career. More than a decade later, Shoval is processing his grief through “A Letter to David.”
The Edlavitch DC Jewish Community Center’s JxJ screened the 74-minute documentary on Sept. 29 to offer a glimpse into Cunio’s life and to financially support the Cunio family — a portion of the film’s proceeds will be donated to them.
“A Letter to David” (2025) is a “personal cinematic letter” to David Cunio, a 34-year-old who was captured by Hamas from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, 2023, with his wife and daughters, and has been held hostage in Gaza ever since, according to the EDCJCC’s website.
“The events of Oct. 7 and the aftermath are kind of front of mind for people,” Mardy Shualy, the artistic director at JxJ, said. “Those events are so critical, and through film and other art, we’re able to give people direct empathetic experience to engage with the material, to have a deeper understanding and connection with the human aspects of the ongoing tragic situation.”
The personal documentary revisits the Oct. 7 attacks through the eyes of the Cunio brothers. Shoval blended Cunio’s past and present using original tapes from casting sessions, scenes from “Youth,” other behind-the-scenes footage and a documentary the brothers made about their lives in Israel in 2013.
During the filming process, Shoval went to Nir Oz to capture the destruction from Oct. 7 and speak with Eitan Cunio. Shoval also includes testimony from David Cunio’s wife, Sharon, who was released from captivity in November 2023, about the morning that changed their lives.
Shoval’s friendship with David Cunio and their prior collaboration strengthen the storytelling, according to Shualy.
“[Their connection] is baked into the structure of the documentary itself,” Shualy said. “Through that background, there’s really a narrative structure where [Shoval is] saying, ‘Here’s my direct knowledge and experience working with this individual. Here’s the kind of person he is. Here are his values and quirks and beautiful elements of his character, and that warmth really comes through in the film.”
What’s notable about the film, Shualy said, is that it doesn’t touch on geopolitics. Instead, it focuses solely on one family’s situation.
“It’s crucial for any story that has ongoing global-political ramifications … to draw people back to the human elements of the story,” he said. “A documentary like ‘A Letter to David’ really speaks directly to the human impact and tells the story of the people who are most directly impacted.”
While the film illustrates the destruction wreaked by Hamas in Nir Oz, Shoval intentionally steers clear of showing bloodshed.
“It’s able to produce an intimate experience in a way that’s challenging and painful, that’s raw but not totally overwhelming,” Shualy said. “You really develop a sense of who the people in the story are.”
This screening of the film is part of the EDCJCC’s “Voices of Israel” series, programs to commemorate the second anniversary of Oct. 7, 2023. On Oct. 18, the EDCJCC will screen “Holding Liat,” a documentary film about an Israeli American family grappling with the captivity of Liat Beinin Atzili.
“It’s really important for us at JxJ to speak to the issues that are most urgent to the Jewish community and to the communities engaged in our programming,” Shualy said, adding that he hopes the film sparked conversation among attendees at the Sept. 29 screening.
