Everyone Is Going To The Sound of Freedom

PANAMA CITY BEACH, FL – The incredible story of Tim Ballard and his determination to save children from child abduction and sold for profit.

People are going out to the theaters again and it’s not for the latest cartoon or action thriller. This real life docu-drama is making a big impact across the country.

Sound of Freedom, directed and co-written by Alejandro Monteverde and Rod Barr, is the story of Tim Ballard’s quest to finish the job he was doing in the FBI which was finding pedophiles and child traffickers. Agent Ballard felt compelled to complete the job by getting the children and returning them to their homes. Jim Caviezel plays Tim Ballard as is joined by Mira Sorvino and Bill Camp.

This movie is Rated PG-13 for thematic content involving sex trafficking, violence, language, sexual references, some drug references and smoking throughout.

Child and sex trafficking is also happening here in the Panhandle. Just last year it is was reported by Dr. Laurie Lawrence from the 14th Judicial Circuit Human Trafficking Task Force which serves six Panhandle counties, “According to the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) in 2020, we had the highest rate per capita of child victims in the entire state of Florida, and that number was 201, and we have increased by 40% in 2021.”

In January of this year the Florida DCF announced in a press release on their website, “Florida became the first state in the nation to develop a screening tool for youth involved in the juvenile justice system. The Human Trafficking Screening Tool was developed jointly by DCF and the Department of Juvenile Justice to screen for both labor and sex trafficking as a way to identify possible trafficking victims early and connect them with services.”

This is a heavy topic, but this movie brings hope and resolve that when we all work together, children can be found and returned to their families.