Israeli director Tom Shoval is back in Berlin with “A Letter to David,” which is his way of processing the fact that his friend David Cunio – who starred in his first feature “Youth” – is one of the more than 250 hostages kidnapped by Hamas on Oct.

"Film is an empathy machine," says Nancy Spielberg (Steven Spielberg's sister) who produced the Oct. 7 film debuting at Berlin. "We need to find a way for humanity to get back on the same page."

David Cunio and his twin brother Eitan were at the Berlin Film Festival in 2013 as the stars of Israeli director Tom Shoval's first feature Youth which world premiered to acclaim in Panorama. The pair,

Nancy Spielberg (Steven Spielberg's sister) produced writer-director Tom Shoval's portrait of David Cunio, who starred in his 2013 film 'Youth' and was taken hostage on October 7th, 2023.

The Berlin film festival premiered a documentary about an Israeli hostage held by Hamas yesterday as it seeks to move on from controversy over its stance on

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.