Here’s today’s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture.

Roadside Attractions and Godspeed Pictures have announced May 15, 2015 as the theatrical release of Where Hope Grows.  The film is a winner of the 2014 Heartland Film Festival Audience Choice Award and its Facebook page has garnered over 200,000 likes.

Roadside Attractions co-President Howard Cohen praises the Where Hope Grows as “a film with an uplifting spirit and performances that will touch your heart.”

Where Hope Grows tells the story of Calvin Campbell (Kristoffer Polaha of Ringer and North Shore), a professional baseball player who is sent to an early retirement after suffering panic attacks at the plate. As he struggles with the challenge of raising his teenage daughter (McKaley Miller of Hart of Dixie), his life heads into a downward spiral until Produce (David DeSanctis in his first screen role), a young-man with Down syndrome who works at the local grocery store, helps him see his life in a different light. As their friendship develops, the unlikely pair’s lives become intertwined in a way that gives Calvin a renewed perspective on the future — but their friendship is tested by an unexpected tragedy. Where Hope Grows is being described as a film about finding redemption through faith, hope and love.

The film also features Billy Zabka (How I Met Your Mother, Karate Kid), Brooke Burns (Baywatch), Alan Powell (The Song) and Danica McKellar (The Wonder Years, Dancing With The Stars) in supporting roles.  The movie is written and directed by Chris Dowling and produced by Steve Bagheri, Simran Singh, Jose Pablo Cantillo, and Milan Chakraborty. 

Encourage one another and build each other up – 1 Thessalonians 5:11