Now playing in theaters nationwide, Where Hope Grows centers on the unlikely and inspiring friendship between a self-destructive ex-baseball player named Calvin (Krisoffer Polaha) and Produce (David DeSanctis), a grocery store employee with Down syndrome.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!
Written and directed by Chris Dowling, the movie has subtle faith based elements to the narrative, but it’s also a story that’s relatable on a universal level. Calvin, an alcoholic who’s struggling to raise his teenage daughter (McKaley Miller), isn’t a cookie cutter protagonist who spouts witticisms left and right. Instead, he’s a highly flawed individual who gradually comes out his shell thanks to his inextricable bond with Produce.
“The movie itself looks like an indie film that you’d go and see,” says Polaha, whose previous credits include TV’s Backstrom, Ringer and Life Unexpected. “It talks about alcoholism in a way that is adult and mature. It talks about the Down syndrome community in a way that we’ve never seen. And it’s a movie about redemption and second chances – who doesn’t long for that?”
Click on the Soundcloud bar below to hear Polaha talk about how “Where Hope Grows” spoke to him as a storyteller and moviegoer:
“Where Hope Grows” also stars Kerr Smith, who also worked with Polaha in “Life Unexpected,” Brooke Burns, and William Zabka.
