THE FILMMAKERS
Derek Hammeke | Director
Derek Hammeke is from Kansas City, Kansas. He received a Bachelor's of Biblical Literature from Ozark Christian College located in Joplin, Missouri where he currently lives. It is here where he runs a production company called Flying Treasure LLC. He works on various projects such as commercials, short films, and documentaries for hire, and has won various awards for his short films.
He is also the proud co-owner of a gymnastics gym in Joplin, Missouri called Amplify Gymnastics. The gym was wiped away one week prior to opening it’s doors for business from the F-5 tornado that hit Joplin in May of 2011, but Derek and the other owners have put time and energy into rebuilding it. The gym won the Phoenix Award, an award given out by the Small Business Association. The award is given to one business in the entire country every year that shows the most outstanding small business recovery after a disaster.
In 2008 Derek worked at Christ In Youth, an organization that puts on youth events across the nation. It was there that he was the creative project leader for a short film titled Baht. The film was a partnership with the Rapha International organization. It was working on this project that Derek found a passion to help the girls at Rapha and to continue to fight against human trafficking. Derek continued the fight by partnering with Rapha and producing many promotional videos for the organization. This partnership then lead to the eventual creation of the full length documentary project Finding Home. See more of Derek's work on Flying Treasure's Facebook page.
Stephanie Freed | Rapha International Director
Stephanie Garman Freed is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of Rapha International, a global organization that exists to “Love, Rescue, and Heal” child victims of slavery and sexual exploitation. Stephanie is responsible for overseeing the strategic development of four safe house projects in Southeast Asia. Starting in 2003, Rapha Cambodia has grown to be one of the largest and most dedicated safe houses committed to assisting well over 1,000 exploited and at risk children in urban communities and rural villages of Cambodia.
She also serves on the Board of Directors of Million Kids, a U.S. Based nonprofit that combats human trafficking in the United States.
Rapha has grown dramatically under Stephanie’s leadership. She is very passionate about telling the story of the grassroots work of Rapha, and of the incredible children who live in their safe homes. For Stephanie, one child slave is one too many.
Stephanie is a lifetime resident of Joplin, Missouri, along with her husband, Brandon,and their three children. Although Stephanie is passionate about ending child slavery, she believes that being a mother is the most important job of her life.
Tony Anderson | Composer
Tony Anderson is a film composer located in Lexington, Kentucky. His sound has developed over the last decade into an intricate mix of organic, cinematic and electronic textures. His role is to support stories through music, and he was initially drawn to the Finding Home project because of his close proximity to the narrative. His first job composing music for film was actually a documentary about Rapha filmed in 2008 called Baht, through which he became aware of sexual exploitation. His heart reverberates with the stories of these girls more than any other project he has been part of, and this score is his deepest body of work to date. See more of Tony's work at tonyandersonmusic.com
Defacto Sound
Defacto Sound is an award-winning sound design and mix team for television, film & games. Most recently, they were the post audio team behind Blood Brother, the 2013 Sundance Grand Jury & Audience Award winning documentary. They also mix shows and promos for Discovery, TLC, Discovery, National Geographic, CMT, and the newly formed American Heroes Channel. See more of Defacto's work at defactosound.com