Channing Tatum Scores 2026 Sundance Triumph as Josephine Wins Grand Jury Prize

The dust has settled in Park City and Salt Lake City after a week-plus sprint of premieres, Q&As, and late-night chatter, and Sundance just handed out its big trophies. Headline: Beth de Araujo’s Josephine walked away with the U.S. Grand Jury Prize for Dramatic. Big swing, heavy subject, stacked cast.

Who won what

• U.S. Grand Jury Prize – Dramatic: Josephine
• U.S. Grand Jury Prize – Documentary: Nuisance Bear
• World Cinema Grand Jury Prize – Dramatic: Shame and Money
• World Cinema Grand Jury Prize – Documentary: To Hold a Mountain
• NEXT Innovator Award (presented by Adobe): The Incomer
• NEXT Special Jury Award (presented by Adobe): TheyDream

So what is Josephine?

The film follows an 8-year-old girl who sees a crime in Golden Gate Park, and the fallout is immediate and raw. She starts acting out to grab back some sense of safety while the grown-ups around her struggle to help. It is not a gentle watch by design.

Cast-wise, it is loaded: Mason Reeves, Channing Tatum, Gemma Chan, Philip Ettinger, Syra McCarthy, and Eleanore Pienta. Tatum and Chan play Josephine’s parents, and yes, seeing those two in a bruising family drama is part of what makes this one stand out. Also worth flagging: our critic singled out child actor Mason Reeves as Josephine — a performance that apparently anchors the whole thing.

Early reaction: tough, uncompromising, and worth the conversation

Our Sundance regular Chris Bumbray caught Josephine on the ground and came away impressed with the performances — especially Tatum and Chan as the parents — and called Reeves’s turn grounded and striking. The flip side: he says the movie is intentionally unflinching to the point of feeling clinical, which makes it a hard sit, and he compares the overall mood to films that feel like endurance tests. Still, he argues the film earns that severity because of the questions it pushes into the light: how rarely sexual assaults are prosecuted, why sentences can be minimal when they are, and what responsibility a child witness should carry, if any, in seeking justice.

"The only problem with Josephine as a film is that its too often clinical approach makes it a hard watch."

"It’s a harsh film, but a necessary one."

Bottom line: Sundance juries went for Josephine, and based on the early chatter, it is the kind of win that is going to spark conversations long after the festival wraps.