“Josephine” Turns One Child’s Trauma Into a Family Crisis
Film still: Greta Zozula / Sumerian Pictures / Courtesy of Sundance Institute
Channing Tatum and Gemma Chan are stepping into one very different kind of family drama in Josephine, the acclaimed new film from writer, director and producer Beth de Araújo.
At the center is newcomer Mason Reeves as eight-year-old Josephine, whose sense of safety is shattered after she witnesses a sexual assault in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. What follows is not a crime thriller about catching the perpetrator so much as a story about what happens afterward — when a child is left trying to understand something the adults around her can barely explain themselves.
Tatum and Chan play Josephine’s parents, Damien and Claire, who are forced to confront their own fear, anger and helplessness while trying to figure out how to make their daughter feel safe again.
Beth de Araújo Turns a Childhood Memory Into “Josephine”
The film comes from de Araújo’s own lived experience. When she was eight, she and her father interrupted a sexual assault in Golden Gate Park — a memory that eventually became the foundation for Josephine.
That personal connection gives the film its point of view. Rather than centering the adults or reducing Josephine to a witness in somebody else’s story, the movie stays close to the confusion, fear and loss of control experienced by a child suddenly exposed to violence.
Josephine became one of the major breakouts of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, winning both the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and the U.S. Dramatic Audience Award. The film later screened in competition at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Credit: Sumerian Pictures
Philip Ettinger, Syra McCarthy, Michael Angelo Covino, Dana Millican and Eleanore Pienta round out the cast, while Tatum and Chan also serve among the film’s producers.
Sumerian Pictures will open Josephine in select theaters November 20, 2026, before expanding nationwide December 4.
Watch the Official “Josephine” Trailer
The first trailer stays close to Josephine’s perspective as her parents try to understand how deeply one horrifying moment has changed their daughter. Press play below.
Sources: Sundance Film Festival, People, Associated Press.
