Beth de Araújo’s ‘Josephine’ Is About Childhood Trauma — Making It with a Real Kid Had to Be Nothing but Safe

Beth de Araújo’s ‘Josephine’ Is About Childhood Trauma — Making It with a Real Kid Had to Be Nothing but Safe

TIFF: As the Sundance winner readies for its fall release, writer/director Araújo and star Gemma Chan tell IndieWire how they ensured their revelatory child star Mason Reeves had the best time possible making her first film.

Buckle In: Beth de Araújo, Gemma Chan and Channing Tatum on the Stunning Josephine

One thing Josephine writer-director Beth de Araújo remembers from that day in Golden Gate Park is looking for a seatbelt.

Josephine — Beth de Araújo [TIFF '26 Review]

In the backseat of her parents’ car, an eight-year-old girl (Mason Reeves) searches the word “rape” on her mother’s phone. We only see her face as she scrolls through the results, but we know what’s happening: her world is rapidly widening in unspeakably terrible ways as she seeks to understand the assault she witnessed the [...]

Josephine Review: An All-Time Great Child Performance Powers Haunting Portrait Of Childhood Trauma

In addition to regularly reviewing movies and working as a media journalist, I hold a Ph.D. in clinical psychology, and specialize in treating post-traumatic stress disorder in patients across the lifespan. I don’t usually write reviews from a first-person perspective, nor do I address this other side of my career in such a setting, but Josephine, a new drama screening at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, warrants both. Seldom has…