SOUND OF FREEDOM INTERVIEW: Writer/Director Alejandro Monteverde | Hosted by Canaan Coffman

we always try to protect our children but unfortunately today you know you can't protect them against this because you know they have that's the easiest way to get into people's homes is to through smartphones you know and they can kidnap your kids psychologically and so it's protecting them from many psychological damage you know there's a lot of predators out there that's something that you know I didn't have growing up so my parents didn't have to protect me from that uh so that's another challenge and it's almost looks like it's getting more difficult to protect our kids because they have access to the world has access to them instantly than it was before hey Noah Glenn Bennett here founder of against the type media and I come bearing a message our channel is your channel so if you enjoy these videos please subscribe if you haven't already like this video you'd be surprised by how much leaving a simple comment helps boost YouTube's algorithms and puts our channel in front of so many more people I actually made a video like this a while back and apparently it helped a lot the team and I are working harder than ever to create content with the cast and crew of your favorite light inspiring movies and shows and surprise now we're making our own answer anti a story that dares to ask if even the man who could be used as the Antichrist has a chance for Redemption you can learn more about how to support that project at antiseries.com thank you so much on with the show foreign [Music] [Music] welcome back to Against The Tide media my name is Kanan and today I am talking with a very special guest director of the number one movie in the country right now sound of Freedom starring Jim Caviezel please make welcome Alejandro Monte Verde how you doing Alejandro well I'm doing very well and thank you so much for having me here oh thank you so much for for joining us so how are you feeling now that sound of freedom is the number one movie in the country well it's um it's a massive accomplishment because for many years we thought that this movie was was you know forgotten yeah um we we finished the film like a little bit more than three years ago for many many reasons you know the movie was not finding the right partner to distribute the film but looking back it totally makes sense and it was worth the wait because we were able to partner with Angel Studios who have nurtured this film just the the perfect way and now to go from a film that was part and you know kind of in the dark and to be right now number one is you can just it's just amazing that's so bad you know it may seem to be here it's it's I can't even believe it it's so I'm just so excited I got to see the movie last night for the first time and wow I was just stunned it was it was amazing and I saw it thank you I saw it with a friend of mine who just graduated with her degree in criminology so I was hoping she would like maybe have some kind of perspective that I wouldn't get and we just both sat there just stunned and heard with tears in her eyes and me just like whoa it was crazy but such a beautiful and relevant movie I'm serious when I say beautiful not just in the story but in the style that it was filmed in I mean I'm no Cinema technical expert on that side of things but it was it was really visually pleasing if that makes sense yes don't make sense I I and thank you thank you you know for me it's I I believe we listen with our eyes yeah so it's uh you know this is a visual format and it was very important that audiences enjoy the film even though we're traveling through a very dark um subject but it was hard to create a vehicle of light you know that's why light was a character in this film it was a narrator if you want to put it that way I could totally tell that especially um in the scene when the dad takes his children to the casting and suddenly like the door closes and it's just the light on that door and everything else is so dark I just I thought that was really cool so thank you you're welcome um what was the biggest challenge that you faced in the writing or the filming process because we know that most of sound of Freedom was filmed in Colombia and the Final Act took place in very like isolated locations with lots of extras so how difficult was the writing and directing for this very difficult they both were its own beasts you know writing a script based on a true story where the your character is a biopic and when the character is alive you know it's always challenging because it's so much you have the boundaries you know you're so much you can do so much create uh creative license that you can take this job tears it to pieces and this is not one chance to put those pieces back together so it was a challenge also the subject how to you know create a script that audiences can digest you know so that was a massive Challenge and then when we had the script that we all feel good and we will started going to Colombia to shoot the film you know get in the finance of the film was a massive challenge because you know it's a risky project but we understood that was riskier not to do it so we we you know in many ways this was a calling uh for many people to come in and and join this this Force we want to call it the giver came a force from the beginning all the way to now and and I'm just very grateful for all the people that they came on board of the ship and and and we're here but also working with the kids was very challenging because we wanted to protect them psychologically so we had to keep uh a lot of the horrors of what happens to kids that get kidnapped and for sexual exploitation we had to to keep uh to keep a very safe environment and they didn't know what the film was about you know automatically they knew that it was about kids being stolen but they didn't know what happened to the kids I'm sure by now the parents must have already told them but you know one of the kids was like five or six years old when I was working with him yes um that actually goes into my next question um so the two siblings horizio played by Crystal and Miguel played by Lucas they were incredible oh my gosh they broke my heart so many times in the in the best and worst ways so obviously there was a challenge there was there more of a challenge with them as they played more principal roles yeah I mean it was a challenge from the beginning also working with a kid you know you can only work five hours a day and this was a very ambitious project with a lot of locations you know every day was a miracle to finish every day we were you know we we didn't have the financial budget to be able to survive any kind of you know detour so to be able to have finished the film on time um working with kids working with this team and so many locations what's a miracle in itself so from there you know I kind of had a lot of Hope because I was like if we were able to finish the film eventually we will find the right distribution partner for this film and here we are so it's uh now it's just we're riding the wave and I'm just very excited and and but right now it's very important you know we want this movie to to stay in theaters we need the audiences to continue to come to see the film because we don't have the marketing budget to keep the film you know our our marketers is the audience it's vital that this weekend we get the support of the audience absolutely well I think that people are speaking because I've been doing my research of course but I remember I went on Tick Tock this morning and I haven't really looked for it there and just my for you page all throughout it I'm seeing people talk about sound of freedom and so I think the people are speaking and they're loving it um that's amazing yes I want to talk about Jim Caviezel who stars in the movie uh playing Tim Ballard so how early in the process did did you all decide on Jim Caviezel or what was that what was that like casting him you know this this film I feel like this film was calling people you know the filming itself kind of like took a life of itself the idea of going with Jim Caviezel was came directly from Tim Ballard you know team called me one day and he said uh I know you're doing your thing but I just want to let you know who I would like to play me and I say who is a gym to be so and I love Jim Caviezel I think he's one of the greatest actors out there and for me it was like that would be amazing yeah the only thing is you know I was I was I wanted to call somebody who looked alike team Ballard so when I met team Gene I asked him if I could dye his hair blonde and we did a test and team was there and I put them together and they were like the resemblance was incredible so it was like wow you know I I was just very grateful the team brought it up and to my surprise you know this message was very close to home for Jim carizo very close you know he himself had already you know rescued children and he knew this team better than than anybody so for an actor to know and to have that conviction to play this character you know for me as a director was wasn't just the biggest blessing and they make you feel giving a child is freedom so good like background good or chicken wings good what kind of good are we talking about here the kind that gives Hope come on let me go you have been at this for 12 years why are you doing it because God's children are not for sale [Music] hear that [Music] that's the sound of freedom [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] um foreign [Music] [Applause] my mom called me today at the at the hospital my dad's been in the hospital and so my mom called me she was watching the news and she's like oh my gosh Jim Caviezel is on Fox News and I know you're doing this thing and I was like I wish I could have recorded it on the hospital TV so I could write down like things you need to ask these people yeah I've loved seeing his passion as he's been promoting the movie as well yeah um so obviously there's such a strong topic of sex trafficking something that is so prominent but feels pretty Hush Hush in specific areas of Industries and just in conversation and so what has it been like with the response from all sorts of different groups of people it's been incredible I mean beyond my expectations you know I uh we did some you know screenings to test the film and the reactions were incredible but I feel like the reactions that I'm seeing right now is surpassed of what I saw and what I saw was amazing so I I didn't think that having sex could react better and you know I've gone Incognito to a couple of different screenings here around Los Angeles and people are plowing at the end of the screen at a random film and you know I have I've never seen that you know where you're in a movie and people opt out you know because filmmakers are not there and it's just it was a beautiful experience because I was there sitting in Camille and then people were pouting to the film in itself so it's just the reaction has been beyond that's amazing uh so like I said with the strong topic it's it's kind of obvious what the what the point is here but I just want to know what is your heart for the creation of this film and how you want it to change the world well for me you know I believe it's very easy to curse the darkness you know and I think it's more effective than instead of cursing the darkness just to like a little match a little candle and for me the main goal of making this film was obviously as a filmmakers to entertain the audience but lighting a candle in the way you know can we entertain and at the same time you know create a meaningful Journey for the audience so that was that was a the main essence of making this movie that's that's so fantastic and I think like the things that are most entertaining to us are what we remember from like years and years and years what are some precautions we can take to be protecting our children as well as take real action to rescue those in slavery and finally end human trafficking well I mean it's just one of the main things that I do with my own kids I have three kids it's obviously just doing the natural thing always you know making sure to know where they are and and and and and always keeping an eye open right but also you know we always try to protect our children but unfortunately today you know you can't protect them against this because you know they have that's the easiest way to get into people's homes is to through smartphones you know and they can kidnap your kids psychologically and so it's protecting them from many psychological damage you know there's a lot of predators out there so it's just to keep an eye always into what is it that they're consuming and who they're talking to on on all the social media Outlets [Music] um so that's that's something that you know I didn't have growing up so my parents didn't have to protect me from that uh so that's another challenge you know someone looks like it's getting more difficult to protect our kids because they have access to the world has access to them easily than it was before so that that's that's uh you know way but I'm still learning I'm still learning I'm a father and I'm trying to figure out how to continue to to protect my kids totally well I think and I think you're on the right are there any upcoming projects you have that you would like to share with our audiences besides sound of freedom uh yeah I can't we're we're about to on the on the signing but I have a movie coming out on March 8th it's called Cabrini when people go see sign of freedom is the first trailer that you'd see I don't know if you saw it but that's uh that's my new movie coming out on March 8th that's awesome yay I'm excited now I get to go see another another new movie bye yeah thank you very much I want to thank you so much for joining us once again and hope you have an awesome rest of your day thank you please keep telling everybody about the film absolutely we will all right thank you thank you bye-bye [Music] shines [Music] [Music] I'm serious when I say beautiful not just in the story but in the in the style that it was filmed in I mean I'm no Cinema like technological side expert that didn't sound very good I don't know technical expert nice is this gonna be like behind the scenes videos is this gonna be like the gag reel at the end look at you maybe not I mean I'll I'll ask for your consent it's great material just gotta put that it's great material look at me I I do stand up as well no I don't now I'm just trying to get sound bites all right you're the host and you have recording permission awesome I am the boss I am not part of the boss that's right ready for this decisions mm-hmm executive decisions I can say hi it's Kanan from against the tide media something like that make it you okay you got it can't really see them but the lights are on oh nice thank you I'm bougie you know with my battery pack that you can see right here I'm just gonna pretend that's not there he's like what are you doing and I'm like what are you what are you talking about what's 420 eastern time in Pacific time this thing is is useless by the way this is my my new my new phone it's uh Apple not 14 pro Max I've really been enjoying it my old phone which is switches over here which I've got to take back it feels so light now um feels weird holding it because I've gotten so used to using this phone this is my cracked iPhone 10. very nice very nice it's uh quick I don't need you right now not you the email I mean most people they just watch themselves in the corner when they're on a zoom meeting anyway which is fine I mean you know that when you're on a FaceTime call with somebody on your phone you're looking at yourself yeah yeah it's uh it's something that we all don't want to admit I don't think it's a vein thing either it's just like you know like you practice in the mirror how you're talking to somebody yeah yeah you have I have conversations like you know with Jimmy Fallon and things like that all the time and and so like it's just practicing absolutely absolutely I'm gonna doodle are you ready here we go okay yeah oh my gosh I think this is the first time that's ever happened here we go first let me write your name Noah Bennett and you'll see Alejandro's name up here don't worry about that uh okay I love I love how still you're staying uh [Music] gotta get the hair would y'all quit emailing me I'm in the middle of something I am making the portrait of all portraits okay you ready as ever well done well played okay um the resemblance was uh uncanny thank you I thought I got that thank you yeah I've never had my portrait done before that was so it was an honor yeah I like to pull that party trick out every now and then that's going to be a great blooper reel that's what I was thinking no been a special Cameo it's his portrait made for the first time of his life you've never had like a caricature of yourself made like at a theme park no oh well what a sad sad life yeah for you I just stay in my little shell and come out whenever the world needs me it's okay you're gonna come out Victorious buddy thank you hi hello how are you how are you sorry for uh I think golden interviews are running a little late no worries we've been having great conversation great very nice to meet you great to meet you too and I've just got to say absolutely beautiful Masterpiece of a film like thank you uh a lot of people but I have never cried throughout almost the entire run time of a movie before until a couple days ago oh wow and it I already knew fairly good bit about the topic but when you're actually seeing it and seeing the people who are going through it and fighting to stop it it's like an experience on another on another level and it deeply touched me so thank you well thank you thank you very much thank you for sharing your your experience the film absolutely I'm doing someone who sent six in the morning it's been Non-Stop I don't know if I don't make senses because I don't even know what I'm saying anymore uh I I understand that feeling I'm uh I'm in the middle of producing something right now too and it's crazy yeah anyway I will let you two get into this thank you both so much for for coming on thank you thank you thank you for uh supporting this

Channel: Against the Tide Media

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Length: 24min 29sec (1469 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 16 2023