Culture Interviews Cinema & Tv

Sound of Hope – The Story of Possum Trot: On the red carpet with Joshua Weigel, Letitia Wright, Reverend Martin and First Lady Donna Martin at the London premiere

Sound of Hope – The Story of Possum Trot: On the red carpet with Joshua Weigel, Letitia Wright, Reverend Martin and First Lady Donna Martin at the London premiere

Nestled in a pocket of Eastern Texas is the small rural community of Possum Trot where Reverend Martin and his wife Donna, leaders of the  Bennet Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, encouraged a community to step forward to foster and bring over 70 hard-to-place children into their families.

Their story of a collective community and their difficult journey is reflected in this film Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot. Brought to screen by wife and husband filmmakers, Joshua and Rebecca Weigel, alongside Letitia Wright in the driving seat as executive producer, this emotive production is an authentic portrayal that reveals the huge impact this mission had igniting a national movement for protecting vulnerable children and raising public awareness.

The Upcoming had the pleasure of attending the London Premiere where we spoke to Weigel about his reasons for choosing to tell this story, the casting process for the feature and what it was like immersing himself in their community to ensure the authenticity of the project.

Wright spoke about her collaborative journey on making this film and the way it touched upon her own personal memories, as well as her hope that the important issues reach audiences when they watch it.

We chatted to Nika King about taking on the role as First Lady Donna Martin and what it was like to meet her, emulate her aura in the role and how it also touched upon her own upbringing too.

Also in attendance were Reverend Martin and First Lady Donna Martin who spoke about how they met, what inspired them to go on this foster journey and how they feel this film speaks to audiences about their mission.

Ezelle Alblas

Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot is released nationwide on 11th October 2024.

Watch the trailer for Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot here:

More in Cinema & Tv

Superman

Christopher Connor

SXSW London 2025: The Institute

Mae Trumata

Salvable

Andrew Murray

Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires

Christina Yang

“It was very interesting to read it, and have Tom DeLonge describe it”: Casper Van Dien on Monsters of California

Christina Yang

Paolo Sorrentino’s La Grazia to open Venice Film Festival 2025

The editorial unit

“Letting us pass this torch on to the kids just makes me reflect on how crazy this experience has been”: Milo Manheim, Meg Donnelly, Freya Skye and Malachi Barton on Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires

Christina Yang

Heads of State

Andrew Murray

Miley Cyrus unveils visual album Something Beautiful, streaming on Disney+ this July

The editorial unit