The film’s star Channing Tatum  confessed that he “cried five, six, seven times” as he finally watched the movie for the first time.

Festival-goers didn’t just weep through “Josephine.” They also laughed and cheered during the few lighthearted moments in the otherwise heart-wrenching drama about a young girl who witnesses a brutal sexual assault at her local park in San Francisco.

Tatum and Gemma Chan star as Josephine’s parents, who struggle to console their young daughter as she grapples with the aftermath of the traumatic event.

Beth de Araújo wrote and directed the film about a harrowing real-life experience she faced as a child. When the director took the stage at the Eccles on Friday afternoon, she wiped away tears of her own as she was greeted with a standing ovation. The crowd continued to clap and cheer as de Araújo brought out her actors, newcomer Mason Reeves who plays Josephine, as well as Tatum — who picked up his pint-sized co-star and swung her around — and Chan.