"This year's festival darling-winning both of Sundance's top honors, the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize-is a masterful drama about a harrowing event. Josephine, directed by Beth de Araújo, is named after its 8-year-old protagonist (played by Mason Reeves), who witnesses a violent assault. She unsurprisingly struggles to put what she saw into words, instead acting out in class and envisioning the perpetrator as an unnerving imaginary friend."
"But Josephine's parents, Damien (Channing Tatum) and Claire (Gemma Chan), disagree over how to handle their daughter's confusion; they don't know how to articulate what happened, either. Such heavy developments could come off like the material of after-school specials, but de Araújo never loses sight of Josephine's raw sensitivity. She captures the young girl's delicate psyche while interrogating whether fully protecting a child's innocence is ever possible."
Sundance held its last festival in Park City, Utah, before moving to Boulder, Colorado, in 2027. The edition felt more muted than previous years, with fewer buzzy premieres and signs of institutional change as indie movies face uncertain prospects. The slate nonetheless included numerous notable films. Josephine won both the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize. Josephine follows an 8-year-old protagonist, played by Mason Reeves, who witnesses a violent assault, acts out in class, and envisions the perpetrator as an imaginary friend. Parents Damien (Channing Tatum) and Claire (Gemma Chan) disagree on how to address their daughter's confusion. Director Beth de Araújo centers the child's sensitivity while questioning the possibility of fully protecting innocence.
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