Eitan Cunio and David Cunio

Source: Orit Azoulay

Eitan and David Cunio

Youth actor David Cunio, whose plight was showcased in Tom Shoval’s 2025 Berlinale documentary A Letter To David, is among 20 living Israeli hostages released from Gaza today.

David was taken hostage by Hamas with his brother Ariel from the Nir Oz kibbutz on October 7, 2023, when 251 were abducted and another 1,200 other people were killed.

David and Ariel were released today as part of the Gaza ceasefire brokered by US President Donald Trump which has seen 20 Israeli hostages freed from Gaza.

The bodies of another 28 Israeli hostages who died in captivity are also due to be returned. In exchange for the hostages, Israel is releasing 250 Palestinian prisoners and more than 1,700 detainees from Gaza.

David’s wife Sharon Aloni Cunio and their then-three-year-old twin daughters Ema and Yuly were among the 105 hostages released during a week-long ceasefire in November 2023. 

David was the subject of Tom Shoval’s documentary A Letter To David, which played in Berlinale Special this year.

On the opening night of the festival, multiple German actors accompanied Berlinale director Tricia Tuttle in holding up photos of David.

David had previously starred in Shoval’s film Youth alongside his twin brother Eitan, which focused on the powerful bond between two brothers and, in a tragic irony, revolved around a kidnapping. Shoval had premiered Youth at the Berlinale in 2013. 

A Letter To David blends behind-the-scenes footage from Youth, tapes of the Cunio family and their kibbutz as well as contemporary interviews to paint a portrait of David and his family and the dire, unimaginable situation in which they found themselves.

Reacting to the news of David’s release, Shoval told Screen: ”This is a profound moment for me. I have been waiting for this moment with the Cunio family with a lot of worries and suspense to the return of David my friend and artistic collaborator as an actor in my film Youth, from the captivity in Gaza along side his brother Ariel. 

”Youth was a film about brotherhood and the unity it creates and now this unity is complete again. A Letter to to David was an unfinished film - it had no ending until now. I’m thrilled to be able to close it now.”

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. Jerusalem-based Go2Films has world sales rights.

David’s brother Eitan, who starred alongside him in Youth, escaped the Hamas-led gunmen on October 7.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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