A former government agent turns vigilante to rescue children from sex traffickers in Director Alejandro Monteverde’s biographical drama, Sound of Freedom.
Monteverde’s film tells the incredible true story of Tim Ballard, who after rescuing a boy from ruthless child traffickers, learns the boy’s sister is still captive and risks his life on a dangerous mission to free her from a fate worse than death.
On September 3, after the DGA membership screening in Los Angeles, Monteverde discussed the making of Sound of Freedom during a Q&A moderated by Director Alonso Alvarez-Barreda (The Wingwalker).
During the conversation, Monteverde spoke about the difficult research he undertook that led to artistic decisions in visualizing the film.
“The research on my end was watching any movie that was on child trafficking. There was a lot of European films about that, and I couldn't finish them because they were too shocking. And I knew right then that the goal was to make a movie that audiences could actually finish and not walk out in the middle. So, that was our guiding force. How can we depict this horror through beauty? How can we go into the hardest, the darkest part of humanity? This odyssey into darkness — can we create a vehicle of hope? And talking with the cinematographer, can we make the lighting a character? Can we make everything more symbolic? Can we remind the audience that they're watching the movie? So, one of the things that are being criticized we did on purpose. We didn't want to make it real. We actually wanted to remind you that you're watching a movie.”
Monteverde’s other directorial credits include the feature films Bella and Little Boy. He has been a DGA member since 2005.