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Beth de Araújo Presents the Mexican Premiere of JOSEPHINE at the 24th FICM

Omar Sosa

Closing the fifth night of screenings at the 24th Morelia International Film Festival (FICM), Daniela Michel, the festival's founder and director, presented Josephine (2026), the winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the past Sundance Film Festival.

Michel asked for a big round of applause to welcome Beth de Araújo, the film's director, who was in the room to witness the Mexican premiere of her latest work. She noted that the film has captivated both general audiences and critics alike throughout its run on screens around the world.

“It is an honor to be here with you,” de Araújo said to a packed theater eager to watch Josephine. She also thanked the festival for including the film in its program, as well as Cine Canibal for distributing it in Mexico and making it accessible to a wider audience.

In de Araújo’s own words, this is not a film meant for escapism or a distraction from daily life; rather, it asks the audience to commit to immersing themselves in the story. “There should be room for both types of films,” she added.

“I hope that, in the end, you feel that this was worth your time, and that it gives you the time and space to open your heart, to reconsider or decondition yourself in a way that benefits your life and your peace, so thank you very much for joining us,” she said before starting the show in Room 4 of the Cinépolis Morelia Centro.

As the film concluded, amidst cheers and applause—with the credits still rolling—the Brazilian-American director stepped to the front to engage with an audience eager to reflect on what they had just witnessed.

Violence is a recurring theme in de Araújo’s storytelling; however, she typically explores it from the perspective of the perpetrator, which isn't the case in Josephine. During the Q&A, an audience member asked why she chose to shift that perspective for this particular story. “I think that with my first film, I really wanted to explore the perspective of an evildoer. I find it fascinating that someone could believe an entire group of people is inferior, and I was very curious about that kind of mind and how it works. Josephine, on the other hand, is based on an experience I lived through myself,” she replied.

She illustrated this with an anecdote from twelve years ago, when she spoke to her father about a situation she had witnessed. That same week, she began writing the screenplay for *Josephine*, which helped her process what she had gone through.

Regarding her work with Mason Reeves—the young actress who plays Josephine—she noted that she was extremely careful, given the topics addressed in the film. She interviewed the parents of all the girls who went through in the audition process, asking them, “What does she understand [about sexual abuse]?” Through an interaction between Mason Reeves and her parents, it became clear that she was the right choice, thanks to the curiosity she approached the unknown with and the maturity with which she engaged with her parents’ responses.

The director explained that, after meeting with Mason Reeves’s parents, she decided not to discuss the film’s subject matter directly with the young actress, nor to have her read the script. Instead, she encouraged the girl to talk through any questions with her parents, while working exclusively on sensory memory exercises—recalling moments when she had felt pride, shame, or sadness. She then asked her to channel those emotions into specific scenes in the film.

Beth de Araújo’s second feature film follows Josephine, an eight-year-old girl who witnesses a sexual assault in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. Her parents struggle to help her overcome the experience, all while grappling with their own feelings of powerlessness, helplessness, and horror. As the trial against the assailant approaches, Josephine is haunted not only by the memory of what she witnessed, but also by the presence of the perpetrator—who lingers in her mind and, according to her imagination, in her room.