EXCLUSIVE: Goodfellas has picked up sales rights for Beth de Araújo’s Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner Josephine, ahead of its international premiere at the Berlin Film Festival.
Starring Channing Tatum, Gemma Chan, Mason Reeves, Philip Ettinger, Syra McCarthy, the drama was one of the buzziest titles to debut at Park City this year and international buyers have been wondering where the sales rights would land.
Josephine world premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section and went on to win the Grand Jury Prize Dramatic and the Audience Award Dramatic. It will also play in the main competition at the Berlin Film Festival.
Inspired by Araújo’s own personal trauma as a child, the story centers on 8-year-old Josephine (Mason Reeves), who witnesses a violent crime in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park while spending the day with her father, played by Channing Tatum.
As her parents (Gemma Chan and Tatum) wrestle with how to help their daughter cope, they must face their own fears around the topic and how to address it with their child. Josephine has emotional outbursts at school before slowly finding a way with wisdom beyond her years.
Goodfellas are handling international sales while CAA Media Finance and WME Independent co-represent North American rights and are in conversation with multiple buyers.
The double Sundance win has already fired up 2026-27 awards season watchers, with observations that Best Picture nominee Minari and Best Picture winner CODA both achieved the same feat in 2021 and 2021 respectively.
This combined with a raft of positive reviews for Araújo’s handling of the tough subject, has landed it a slot in early awards prediction lists.
Josephine is Araújo’s second feature after 2022 feature debut Soft & Quiet which premiered at SXSW and was released by Momentum Pictures.
Producers are David Kaplan, Josh Peters, Araújo, Marina Stabile, Tatum, Chan, Mark H. Rapaport, and Crystine Zhang.
English (US) ·