Writer-director Beth de Araújo’s second feature, a dual winner at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, firmly establishes her as a filmmaker of note. As eight-year-old Josephine (Mason Reeves) and her father (Channing Tatum) jog through Golden Gate Park, their bond is evident—close, playful, rooted in shared activities. Whether playing soccer or hanging out, these two share a real connection. But Josephine runs on ahead of her father and witnesses something that she can’t entirely name: an attack, a struggle, a man, a woman, the woman screaming. As she watches from behind the safety of a tree, the violence fascinates even as it traumatizes her. As this riveting story unfolds, Josephine navigates her experience and its ramifications and complexities, while the adults around her struggle with how to help her. De Araújo elicits beautiful performances from her central actors, notably Tatum and newcomer Reeves, with cinematographer Greta Zozula’s astute eye adding to the profound experience of the film. —Zoë Elton

Beth de Araújo will be honored with the MVFF Award for Bay Area Rising Star and the Elton Creation Special Jury Prize for directing Josephine, which won the Sundance Film Festival's Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and US Dramatic Audience Award. Born and raised in San Francisco and a UC Berkeley graduate, de Araújo returns home with a film shot largely in Golden Gate Park, marking her as one of the most promising new directors with deep Bay Area roots. A native of San Francisco, de Araújo earned her MFA at the American Film Institute, and her short films include Brown Bag (2014), Initiation (2015), Chevy Chase (2018), and I Want to Marry a Creative Jewish Girl (2019), adapted from her own Gawker essay. She made her feature debut with Soft & Quiet (2022) before Josephine, her second feature.