This year’s Sundance Film Festival was the final one in Park City. When I landed, the air felt lighter, and either I am very jaded, but it just felt very neutral this year. It felt like Main Street wasn’t as bustling as in previous years, and the lack of multicultural event spaces and houses was a void that was felt.
2026 Sundance felt… different. Especially with the events happening in this country. While I was waiting in line for a movie, I was scrolling through my newsfeed and saw that Alex Pretti had been shot. At that same moment, I overheard the person in front of me vehemently complaining about how he had to wait in line.
Talk about perspective.
It was as if I were living in two universes. One where we are “celebrating cinema!” and another where people are getting brutally murdered on the street at the hands of law enforcement. I was asking myself, “What the fuck am I doing here?”
I continued to watch movies, but I wasn’t in the mood to go to many parties or big, crowded events. Part of me thought, “Been there, done that,” and the other part didn’t feel the need to celebrate anything. It was difficult to not think about what was happening in Minneapolis. I know that the world keeps turning, but for some, it isn’t turning anymore.
I managed to watch many movies and in case you missed it, I posted some “thots” on DIASPORA’s Instagram.
There were many films that I thoroughly enjoyed, and there were some that were…well…let’s just say they were giving “beautiful gowns” energy.
The one movie I would not shut up about was Josephine from filmmaker Beth de Araújo. The drama Gemma Chan and Channing Tatum as the parents of the titular eight-year-old girl played by star-in-the-making Mason Reeves.
While in Golden Gate Park with her father, Josephine witnesses a graphic and brutal assault. As the only one who saw the attacker, her parents must decide whether she testifies in court — but the movie is also about the fear, paranoia, and life-altering mental distress such an experience might bring to a young girl.
Based on a real experience from Araújo’s life, the film is devastatingly heavy and very uncomfortable to watch. But throughout the entire film, you feel the pulse of hope that gets you through it. Araújo, with thoughtful care, tells this type of story from the child’s perspective — a perspective we never see. The film is about the realistic absence of safety and the unpredictable nature of life in general. Nothing is promised… and at the same time, everything is promised. As I said in my capsule review, I found it profoundly moving.
The film went on to win the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and the U.S. Dramatic Audience Award at Sundance, a rarity at the fest. Josephine follows in the footsteps of double winners CODA (2021), Minari (2020), Whiplash (2014), Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015), and Fruitvale Station (2013). All the aforementioned films became awards season darlings — some were Academy Award winners. I foresee good things happening in Josephine‘s future.
There was one day in Park City when I dragged myself out of the Cinema Sala condo (shout out to Cinema Sala!) to attend The Asian American Foundation and Rideback Rise’s “Asian Luminaries Brunch”. While listening to a panel and eating a plate of food from an all-you-can-eat brunch buffet (which I am always here for), a woman asked if she could sit next to me. I said, “Sure!”
My friend and badass head honcho of CAPE, Michelle Sugihara, pointed out, “Hey Dino, this is Syra… she’s in Josephine.”
It was Syra McCarthy, the actress who played the woman assaulted in the film.
I turned to her and immediately started praising the movie. As I was talking to her and gushing about the movie, tears started to well up in my eyes. And then I just started crying. Then I looked at her and saw tears starting in her eyes. We hugged for a good moment before I cracked a joke about being such a dramatic queen.
I talked to Syra for a while, and we talked about the profundity of the movie, the incredible talent of Beth de Araújo, and shared stories about living in San Francisco. Then I found out she was Filipino, which made her even cooler, obviously.
Like any job, there are times when I wonder to myself, “Why do I still do this kind of work?” There are times when get jaded and resentful of the film and TV industry because of the incessant gatekeeping, the boot-licking, the racism, the homophobia, the misogyny, the transphopia — not to mention how artists are mistreated, commerce eclipses creativity, studio and media monopolies dilute film & TV, star-fucking overly compliant influencers are preferred over professional journalists & critics, and how there tends to be an utter lack of empathy and humanity in Hollywood — especially in its current state. But there are always moments that make up for all the trash and mess that is constantly thrown around in the industry.
This was one of them.
