Sumerian Pictures will submit Beth de Araújo’s “Josephine” for multiple Academy Awards, including a lead actress push for nine-year-old newcomer Reeves. Channing Tatum and Gemma Chan will also campaign in the supporting actor and actress categories, respectively. The film won both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at Sundance.
Every awards season has a film that dares you to look away. This year it’s carried by a nine-year-old girl. Sumerian Pictures will submit de Araújo’s Sundance Film Festival winner “Josephine” across multiple categories for the upcoming awards season, Variety has learned exclusively. The campaign will include submissions for best picture, acting categories, and craft awards, marking the first such effort by the young distributor.
Reeves will be submitted in the lead actress category, a rare move for a child actor. Only two performers under 18 have ever been nominated for best actress: Wallis, at age 9, and Keisha Castle-Hughes for “Whale Rider” (2003) at age 13. The supporting actress category has historically been more receptive to young performers.
Co-stars Channing Tatum and Gemma Chan will campaign in the supporting actor and actress categories, respectively. They also produced the drama alongside David Kaplan, Josh Peters, de Araújo and Marina Stabile. Tatum, as Josephine’s father Damien, delivers a performance described as a “subdued, aching kind of masculinity,” recalling his work in “Foxcatcher” (2014). An award-winning screenwriter told Variety Tatum has an opportunity to establish himself in a role similar to that previously occupied by Ryan Gosling.
Chan, as Josephine’s mother Claire, is described as delivering the “finest performance of her career,” conveying “maternal guilt and helplessness with precision.” The film follows an eight-year-old Josephine, played by Reeves, who witnesses a crime in Golden Gate Park and struggles to feel safe, finding adults unable to help her.
“Josephine” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, winning both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award, a feat last achieved by “Minari” in 2020 and “CODA” in 2021. “CODA” later won best picture. Variety called the film a “standout,” noting it “dares to confront the life-shattering intersection of sex and violence in our culture.” De Araújo is of Chinese and Brazilian descent.
Read the original coverage
💬 Comments
📜 Comment Policy