Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot

In Possum Trot, a small town in East Texas, members of a Black church congregation decide to adopt the children hardest to place in the foster system. Led by Donna and Reverend W. C. Martin, twenty-two families take in seventy-seven children in total. Most of the children have histories of abuse and have been sent back from several homes before. Settling in is not easy; some families struggle and some want to give up. Joshua Weigel's film rests on real events and shows them not as a miracle but as labour that has to be sustained. The narrative proceeds within a faith-based frame and its intended audience is clear. Demetrius Grosse and Nika King play the parents. Who it's for: Viewers who like adaptations of real events, family drama, and faith-based films. Who it's not for: The narrative foregrounds the religious frame plainly and does not go into the structural problems of the foster system. What the children have been through is also heavy in some scenes.