Angel Studios ‘ “ Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot ” tells the true story of a small Texas town where, led by the example of a local pastor and his wife, the locals adopted 77 of the hardest to place foster care children and orphans in the area’s foster care system. The fact that it’s the story of an entire community meant that costume designer Ellen Falguiere had a daunting task for the modestly budgeted independent film : creating over 400 costumes, each of which had to serve a storytelling purpose. “We wanted each costume to really reflect what’s happening in the story with that character,” director Joshua Weigel told IndieWire.
To that end, each of the foster children had clothes that subtly traced their arc from abandonment to adoption. “I started out with the clothing reflecting the sadness and neglect of the situation,” Falguiere told IndieWire. “The clothes were either too big or too small, and dirty, and old.
Then, when they get adopted, they might not be rich kids but the clothes are clean. It’s a brighter color palette.” That said, the filmmakers were always careful never to go too far in an overly vibrant direction.
“It was important that this not have a simplistic approach to hope and redemption,” Weigel said. “We wanted to feel light and hope, but not lose sight of the fact that this is going to be a struggle. The stories of these kids are hard, and these people did hard things.
” Weigel’s desire to be honest about the c.
