When “Josephine” premieres at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival this week, it will be composer Miles Ross’ first visit to the festival.
“The significance of this being the last one in Park City, Robert Redford’s passing, it’s also a big turning point, inflection point in the industry,” he said. “It feels like this existential, ‘what’s happening to Hollywood?’ sort of thing. And so it feels like a really, I don’t know — I feel all this anticipation and excitement.”
It’s also a big homecoming for director Beth de Araújo, with whom Ross has worked closely since their first project together, “Soft & Quiet,” which premiered at South by Southwest Festival in 2022. In fact, they’ve worked extremely close since they met six years ago, a collaboration that bleeds through to the final project.
“My situation is extremely unique in that the director is also my fiancé,” Ross said. “And so it’s a unique relationship where I’ll be working on music and she’ll be like, ‘Oh, I love that.’ She is so aware of the music that I’m making, and I’m so aware of her thoughts, and so it’s a highly collaborative, unusual process in that way.”
When it came to “Josephine,” Ross said the film was extra special, a story that’s been with de Araújo since her grad school days in 2014, and then in conversation between the two back when they met in 2019.
“From the very first day we met, we were talking about ‘Josephine,’” Ross said. “I didn’t know at the time that I would be writing music for it, but ‘Josephine’ has kind of been in our lives throughout this whole time.”
The story, set in San Francisco, follows 8-year-old Josephine as she accidentally witnesses a crime and her parents’ often-helpless attempts to support her.
When it came to writing the score to follow such a deeply emotional film, Ross said he and de Araújo had a clear vision from the start.
“We’ve always agreed that Josephine is represented by this palette of familiar classical, cellos and these instruments that we usually associate with passion,” Ross said. “And then as the film goes on, as she spirals deeper, it is infiltrated by this palette of more electronic, dissonant, very disturbing undertones.”
The clash of soundscapes becomes an emotional arc through the film, he explained, which culminates in a parallel resolution to the character.
But even though it’s a heavy theme, Ross said the goal is to avoid a score that feels too obvious.
“Movies and music should be up to interpretation a lot of time,” he said. “Scoring has allowed me to understand that whole idea of not leading the listener on too much and making things that are, ‘OK, this is sad, but there’s something else going on here that could be happy,’ and that’s kind of the way our minds work. Our sad thoughts aren’t always 100% sad, we add happiness or confusion or other things into it.”
Keeping the score authentic to the human experience, and the perspective of 8-year-old Josephine, required the composer to reflect on his own memories.
“I would think about the first time I remember laughing with my dad, or those sorts of formative, childhood experiences,” Ross said. “It’s a deeply heavy film. … But I think it’s hard to tell a story about childhood without also showing the love and care that your parents provide in situations, and the happiness and joy and laughter.”
Ross said as a composer, he tends to gravitate toward emotional and melodic soundscapes because he sees music through a therapeutic perspective, as a way to process his experiences. That personal flavor makes its way into “Josephine” as well, something de Araújo pushed him to do.
“The thing that I love most about working with her is she demands this radical authenticity of me. I think one of the hardest things to do is just to be yourself,” Ross said. “As someone who loves scores so much, I’m constantly thinking about other scores, and so like being radically authentic, making something that is coming from my heart, that is with the story, I think is the most important thing. … She wants you to be you and to bring your experience to the project.”
Post-production on “Josephine” lasted over a year, extra time that was both a blessing and a curse, Ross said.
“If it was just me in an echo chamber of my thoughts, I would never be able to complete the score,” he said with a laugh. “But the nice thing about a film is you have all these other voices creatively, from a post producer telling you there is a deadline, all of these structural deadlines, as well as the people along the way that help you find that finality.”
While at the festival, Ross said he plans to be on a few music panels and is excited to connect with other film lovers.
“Just being in this environment where there’s so many people that are so passionate about filmmaking, it gives me fuel, and gets me really, really excited about continuing on this path,” he said.
The cast reunion is another exciting bonus.
“I’m honestly just really excited to see a lot of those people again and reconnect, because a film set is like this insane family for a month and a half, and then it all goes away,” he said. “And so I’m missing a lot of those people.”
“Josephine” will premiere at 2:45 p.m. on Jan. 23 at the Eccles Theatre and will be followed by a Q and A with the cast and crew.
‘Josephine’ in-person screenings
- 2:45 p.m., Jan. 23, Eccles Theatre
- 8:30 a.m., Jan. 24, The Ray Theatre
- 1:00 p.m., Jan. 26, Rose Wagner Center, Salt Lake City
- 4:00 p.m., Jan. 29, Megaplex Redstone 1
- 4:30 p.m., Feb. 1, The Yarrow Theatre
Online
- 8 a.m., Jan. 29-11:55 p.m., Feb. 1