Underplayed Gems

A Letter To David (2025)

A Letter To David poster
Original title
מכתב לדויד
Directed by
Tom Shoval
Genre
documentary film
Country
Israel, United States
Runtime
1h 14m
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A filmmaker makes a direct personal film addressed to an actor who worked with him years before that actor was taken hostage. The documentary serves as a message and a way to process a traumatic event through cinema.

intimatepersonalcontemplativeurgentsorrowfuldirectfocusedraw

What happens

A Letter to David (Hebrew: מכתב לדוד, translit. Michtav Le'David) is a 2025 documentary film written and directed by Tom Shoval. It is a cinematic letter to David Cunio, who had previously starred in Shoval's Youth (2013), and who was abducted by Hamas during the October 7 attacks in 2023 from Nir Oz, and held hostage in Gaza. The film had its world premiere at the Berlinale Special section of the 75th Berlin International Film Festival on 14 February 2025. It was theatrically released in Israel on 27 March by Go2Films. At the 36th Ophir Awards, it won the Best Documentary. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

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