{"id":40260,"date":"2024-07-03T15:28:53","date_gmt":"2024-07-03T19:28:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/?p=40260"},"modified":"2024-07-03T15:28:53","modified_gmt":"2024-07-03T19:28:53","slug":"independent-choices-what-to-watch-and-or-read-on-this-4th-of-july-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2024\/07\/independent-choices-what-to-watch-and-or-read-on-this-4th-of-july-weekend.html","title":{"rendered":"Independent choices: What to watch and\/or read on this 4th of July weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Here&#8217;s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media &amp; culture: 07\/03\/24<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Fourth of July entertainment suggestions:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot<\/em> in theaters.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Sound Of Hope: The Story Of Possum Trot | Official Trailer | Angel Studios\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-nyh9tcGFcI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap\" dir=\"auto\"><span class=\"yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color\" dir=\"auto\">Inspired by a true story, the film tells the story of a rural East Texas church that stepped up and adopted 77 foster system children that nobody else would take. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Riffing on the movie&#8217;s title, writer\/producer <strong>Rebekah Weigel <\/strong>says it refers to &#8220;the sound of a courageous little church standing up and fighting for children who are being exploited and abused.\u201d She notes \u201cThere are more than 100,000 kids languishing in the foster system in America that need a family, and their deep cry for healing will be heard through this film. It\u2019s time to follow this community\u2019s lead, across this nation and around the world. We are so excited to partner with Angel Studios to ignite the movement to end the foster crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Sound of Hope: The St<\/em>o<em>ry of Possum Trot<\/em> is directed by <strong>Joshua Weigel<\/strong> and stars<strong> Nika King (Euphoria)<\/strong>, <strong>Demetrius Grosse (Justified, The Rookie)<\/strong> and <strong>Elizabeth Mitchell (<em>Outer Banks<\/em>, <em>Lost<\/em>)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The film is the latest big screen offering from <strong>Angel Studios<\/strong>, the company behind last year&#8217;s blockbuster hit <strong><em>Sound of Freedom<\/em> <\/strong>which also debuted on July 4th.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>George: Rise of a Revolutionary<\/em> streaming on Fox Nation.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Kelsey Grammer hosts new series on George Washington&#039;s rise to power | Fox Nation\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5RVlQXHu0lU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Executive Producer<strong> Kelsey Grammer<\/strong> narrates this four-part docudrama chronicling the story of the Revolutionary War hero who would become America&#8217;s first president.<\/p>\n<p><strong>U.S. Comics releases graphic version of America&#8217;s origin stor<\/strong>y<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"yiv1238446680image_content\" src=\"https:\/\/ecp.yusercontent.com\/mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffiles.constantcontact.com%2Fbf2601db701%2Faf41eb0a-6372-43bf-b846-1949bde09c77.jpg&amp;t=1719923212&amp;ymreqid=ae7ac87d-528e-3d6c-1ccf-d90001011100&amp;sig=wXwFxLeGBGn5RdZetngkKg--~D\" alt=\"\" width=\"560\" \/><br \/>\nThe <em><strong>America<\/strong><\/em> graphic novel series is meticulously crafted to blend historical accuracy with gripping\u00a0 narrative, showcasing pivotal events from our nation&#8217;s early history.<\/p>\n<p>Veteran historical and animation writer <strong>Doug Peterson<\/strong> penned the series with historian <strong>William Federer<\/strong> of the podcast <a href=\"https:\/\/americanminute.com\/pages\/american-minute\"><strong>American Minute<\/strong><\/a> serving as Executive Editor. Art Ayris, CEO of Kingstone Studios, the company producing the graphic novels, says &#8220;We believe that by blending storytelling with historical accuracy, we can engage a new generation in the remarkable narrative that is America.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/uscomics.com\/\">Click here for more information<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, here&#8217;s libertarian journalist <strong>John Stossel<\/strong> with his take on why the Fourth of July is still worth celebrating.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"What We Should Celebrate on Independence Day\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NzMW-4LWN4U?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>John W. Kennedy is a writer, producer and media development consultant specializing in television and movie projects that uphold positive timeless values, including trust in God. <\/em><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong><em><span class=\"st\">Encourage one another and build each other up &#8211; <\/span><\/em><span class=\"st\">1 Thessalonians 5:11<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media &amp; culture: 07\/03\/24 Fourth of July entertainment suggestions: Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot in theaters. Inspired by a true story, the film tells the story of a rural East Texas church that stepped up and adopted 77 foster system children that nobody else&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4893,9369,12,13,7192,12778,1591,14,15,24,14910,1],"tags":[398,16962,10494,8116,16968,16959,16965],"class_list":["post-40260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adoption","category-comic-books","category-education","category-family-matters","category-freedom","category-freedom-of-speech","category-good-works","category-gratitude","category-history","category-movies","category-streaming","category-uncategorized","tag-fox-nation","tag-george-rise-of-a-revolutionary","tag-john-stossel","tag-kelsey-grammer","tag-rebekah-weigel","tag-sound-of-hope-the-story-of-possum-trot","tag-u-s-comics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Independent choices: What to watch and\/or read on this 4th of July weekend<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2024\/07\/independent-choices-what-to-watch-and-or-read-on-this-4th-of-july-weekend.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Independent choices: What to watch and\/or read on this 4th of July weekend\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here&#8217;s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media &amp; culture: 07\/03\/24 Fourth of July entertainment suggestions: Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot in theaters. 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Inspired by a true story, the film tells the story of a rural East Texas church that stepped up and adopted 77 foster system children that nobody else&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2024\/07\/independent-choices-what-to-watch-and-or-read-on-this-4th-of-july-weekend.html","og_site_name":"Faith, Media &amp; Culture","article_published_time":"2024-07-03T19:28:53+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/ecp.yusercontent.com\/mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffiles.constantcontact.com%2Fbf2601db701%2Faf41eb0a-6372-43bf-b846-1949bde09c77.jpg&amp;t=1719923212&amp;ymreqid=ae7ac87d-528e-3d6c-1ccf-d90001011100&amp;sig=wXwFxLeGBGn5RdZetngkKg--~D"}],"author":"John W. 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Kennedy","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/e5d5ef9caeb6b01bcbf08ca6de6591c2","name":"John W. Kennedy","description":"John W. Kennedy is the founder and Dir. of Development of The Creative Universe Entertainment\u2122, a media consultation and development company focusing on the creation, development and support of high-quality mainstream entertainment that upholds positive timeless values, including trust in God. Current projects include \"Bryant Park\" (an uplifting romantic-comedy) and \"Photo Finish\" (an award-winning sci-fi TV pilot). He has written over 100 children's novels based on episodes of the Cartoon Network series \"Ben 10\", \"Ben 10: Alien Force\", \"Ben 10: Ultimate Alien\", \"Ben 10: Omniverse\" and \"Generator Rex\" among others. He also writes Beliefnet\u2019s \"Faith, Media &amp; Culture\" blog. Previously, he has produced successful news and talk programming for CNN, Fox News, Pax TV and SiriusXM. Specialties: Script Writing, Movie\/TV Novelizations &amp; Adaptations, TV Content Creation and Development, Creative Consultation, Producing and Booking News and Talk shows. He can be reached for writing, producing and consulting services at 516-640-1182.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/author\/jkennedy"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/225"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40260"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40383,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40260\/revisions\/40383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}