For Tom Shoval, making the film “A letter to David” was a way to ensure that his friend David Cunio was not just a face in a poster kidnapped after the attack led by Hamas in Israel on October 7, 2023, during which More than 250 hostages were brought to Gaza by militants.
The material of the image that arrived on the day of the attack, which left the death of at least 1,200 people, was “without censorship, no filter, without dignity, no way to look at the perspective and understand something: only horror, horror, horror “, Shoval said to Reuters.
It was “this explosion of images, carnage and violence, graphic violence, which blinds us almost,” he said. “You can’t really see the person. See only the horror.”
In the film, previewed at the Berlin Film Festival on Friday, Shoval wanted to demonstrate that Cunio, who is still hostage, was someone with motivations, dreams and nightmares.
“I wanted to show this and free the person from this horror that was blinding us all,” he said.
The result was “a letter to David”, a deeply personal cinematographic message from Shoval to Cunio, who starred in his twin brother, the director’s first film, “Youth” (Youth), 2013.
The film uses “young” images, as well as homemade videos recorded by the Cunios during the production of the film.
This is in contrast with the filming of Shoval in Kibbutz of Cuni in the weeks and months following the attack, showing how the united community has been transformed by him.
“I heard that I had to talk to him in some way,” said Shoval. “I am a director and this is the only way to deal with the topic.”
In the home underwear, Cunio’s twins who turn their daily life to Kibbutz Nir Oz: walking through an orange, preaching pieces on the roof, flirting with girls.
“Looking at these old filming was disturbing,” said Shoval.
Source: Terra
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