By Noma Faingold

Josephine, a sporty eight-year-old girl, without a care in the world, is jogging in Golden Gate Park with her father at dawn. She races ahead to show her athletic dad what she can do and abruptly, comes upon a man following a female jogger into a public restroom.

Josephine instinctively hides behind a nearby tree and watches the sexual assault. Josephine, played by newcomer Mason Reeves, is scared, and does not move. A variety of subtle expressions roll across her face.

Her father, Damien, played by Channing Tatum, comes into view and interrupts the brutal act. After making sure his daughter is out of immediate danger, he chases after the assailant. Damien catches him with the help of the police.

Yet Josephine will never be the same.

By writing and directing the drama, “Josephine,” San Francisco-born writer and director Beth de Araújo, who grew up in the Richmond District (within walking distance of the Alexandria Theater, which was shuttered in 2004), was willing to relive her own childhood trauma in order to prevail over her lingering emotional wound.

However, Araújo admits, “Going to Golden Gate Park is still quite hard for me. I am very specific about when, where and with whom.”

“Josephine” premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, winning both the Grand Jury Prize: U.S. Dramatic and the Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic. The last time a film won those top two awards was in 2021 with “CODA,” which went on to win Best Picture at the 2022 Oscars. In February Araújo landed a lucrative U.S. distribution deal with indie Sumerian Pictures. The film will be released in theaters November 20 (limited cities) and December 4 (nationwide).

The film has its Bay Area premiere on October 6 at the Rafael Film Center, during the 49th Mill Valley Film Festival (Oct. 1-11), at which time Araújo will be honored with the MVFF Award for Bay Area Rising Star.

The scene of the crime in Araújo’s film resembles what she vividly remembers about her incident. The rest of “Josephine” is well-researched fiction in its depiction of the emotional fallout in the family, how each character agonizingly works through the aftermath and the legal process of the case. Josephine’s mother, Claire (Gemma Chan) tries to get her daughter to open up. She is empathetic but unsure how to help Josephine heal.

In Araújo’s home, her parents never discussed the incident with her. “I didn’t get an answer when I was younger when I asked. That silence wasn’t helpful for me. It really left me in a dangerous mental place,” she said. “I don’t know when the right time is to talk to children about sexual assault. I’m not sure any of us do because it’s so under-researched.”

Araújo, who studied sociology at UC Berkeley and earned an MFA at the American Film Institute Conservatory in Los Angeles, moved to L.A. in 2009, but frequently visits the Bay Area. Her family is still here

At age seven, Reeves was discovered by Araújo at the Sunday Clement Street Farmer’s Market. The director was passing out flyers just a few weeks before the 35-day shoot was scheduled to begin. Reeves caught Araújo’s eye and she asked to meet Reeves’ parents. Four auditions and several visits later, Araújo knew Reeves was her Josephine.

“We got really lucky finding her,” she said. “Mason is a very special kid. She’s an actress. She’s so in-tune with every single person’s emotions in any space she’s in. The gift of actors is they’re best at thinking with their heart. It’s their job. Mason is like that.”

Araújo, Chan, Tatum and Reeves’ parents were extremely cautious about exposing the young lead to the mature content of “Josephine.” Reeves never read the whole script. She learned her lines with her mother. When filming the assault scene, it was the crew who Reeves was looking at. She never saw the disturbing sequence. Reeves, now age 10, has never seen the film in its entirety. She does seem to enjoy participating in the post-screening Q&As at film festivals.

“Josephine,” while unsettling, has received critical acclaim and favorable feedback from festival goers.

“What surprises me is that there are a lot of people who really want to talk about this subject matter,” she said. “The film gives people a space where they’re allowed to.”

“Josephine” is Araújo’s second feature after writing and directing 2022’s “Soft & Quiet.” It was crucial to her that “Josephine” be filmed in San Francisco. “I love to write for locations. It’s an integral part of everything that I do because it’s a character and a mood,” she said. “It’s a city that is so visually rich, it’s asking to be filmed. There’s a reason Hitchcock shot all those films in the Bay Area. Everything you look at is delicious.”

“Josephine,” on Oct. 6 at 7 p.m., at the Rafael Film Center during the 49th Mill Valley Film Festival, Oct. 1-11. Araújo, Gemma Chan and Mason Reeves will be in conversation. A second screening is on Oct. 7, noon at Sequoia Cinema in Mill Valley. mvff.com.