Volkswacht Bodensee - Berlin festival seeks to bury Gaza row with Israeli hostage film

"A Letter to David" by Israeli filmmaker Tom Shoval is a tribute to David Cunio, who was taken by Palestinian militant group Hamas from the Nir Oz kibbutz on October 7, 2023, and is still being held hostage in Gaza.

Shoval had previously featured Cunio and his twin brother Eitan in his award-winning debut feature film "Youth", which premiered at the Berlinale in 2013.

In the new film, screening in the festival's Special category, Shoval uses excerpts from "Youth" alongside unseen footage and interviews with Cunio's family members to create a tribute to his missing friend.

They include David's twin brother Eitan, his mother, and his wife Sharon Cunio and twin daughters -- who were also captured by Hamas fighters on October 7 but released after 52 days.

Shoval said he had decided to make the film because he did not want David to be perceived as just "a hostage you see on a poster".

"He is also a real person. He was an actor at some point in his life, he has a family, he has a mother, he has a father. He exists not only as an image," Shoval told AFP.

"It was very important to me to convey this, and also to show the pain that the family is going through."

- 'Torn apart' -

In the film, David's twin Eitan shows a tattoo of stars on his wrist -- which David also has -- as he talks about his brother, hunched over and smoking a cigarette.

Eitan also takes the viewer on a tour of his and David's old homes in the kibbutz, giving a harrowing blow-by-blow account of what happened to them on October 7.

For Eitan, being separated from his brother has been "like being torn apart" and he is "not the same person any more", Shoval said.

The Berlinale was heavily criticised last year after several filmmakers were accused of making anti-Semitic remarks on stage at the closing awards ceremony.

US filmmaker Ben Russell, wearing a Palestinian scarf, accused Israel of committing "genocide" in the Gaza Strip, while Palestinian filmmaker Basel Adra said the Palestinian population was being "massacred" by Israel.

Ahead of this year's festival, the Berlinale published guidelines on its website on freedom of expression, anti-Semitism and showing solidarity with the Palestinian cause.

"We... stand by the right of our filmmakers to talk about the impulses behind their work and their experiences of the world. The Berlinale welcomes different points of view, even if this creates tension or controversy," they said.

Tricia Tuttle, who took over as the new director of the Berlinale in April last year, said she was "surprised" about the backlash against the comments made last year, describing them as "free speech".

- Red-carpet vigil -

"I'm more upset that there wasn't a sort of place in the festival for people to feel empathy or hear empathy for the hostages too," she told AFP.

"We didn't speak up for David Cunio last year and I feel like we really missed an opportunity.

"While I want to be incredibly careful that we don't continue to silence voices that are expressing sorrow and solidarity and an urge for Palestinian statehood, I also want to make sure that we show that we care about people who we have a relationship with."

At the opening of the Berlinale on Thursday, Tuttle joined a vigil for David Cunio on the red carpet.

Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,211 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.

Militants also took 251 hostages, of whom 73 remain in Gaza, including at least 35 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,239 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the UN considers reliable.

R.Buehler--VB