Mike Thomas - Director/Cinematographer
After an opportunistic visit to Baan Gerda in 2006, Mike originally volunteered to design and maintain a website for the foundation. Soon after it was finished he began to film the music lessons, long before the idea of an opera or a documentary film had been discussed. He has been able to capture in detail the unfolding events and the development of the children over the last few years.

Alec Ceschi - Production Consultant
With more than 30 years experience as a cameraman that has taken him to over 50 countries, Alec has a wealth of knowledge in documentary filmmaking, television and drama. He is based in London, where he runs both production and post-production companies. He regularly travels to Thailand to help with filming, technical and productions matters.

Rak Wongsombut (Nis) - Producer
As with most people involved in the production of the film, Nis had a multitude of roles from soundman through to translator. Certainly the most important of these was to develop relationships with the main characters and to gain their trust so that we could tell their stories.                                                                     


Roberta Morris Purdee – Executive Producer
Roberta began her career working with actress/director Lee Grant. Notable projects include Academy Award winning documentary Down and Out In America. Recent work includes Baghdad ER winner of multiple Emmy's and the duPont Award for HBO, and Cine Golden Eagle winner Talk, Listen, Connect for PBS. Other documentaries include Praying with Lior, For the Next 7 Generations and critically acclaimed Wallowitch & Ross This Moment, voted one of the years 10 best documentaries by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.

Leigh Gibson – Executive Producer
Leigh has been working in documentary production for over seven years. She has been involved in numerous films such as 'Escape from Luanda', 'In Search of Beethoven' and also more recently a ten year project in Afghanistan called ‘The Boy Mir’. In 2007 she won the MIPDOC Co-production Challenge, a pitching competition in Cannes, for the film 'Escape from Luanda' and has secured funding from sources such as MEDIA, the Sundance Institute and broadcast funding.

Cindy Thoennessen – Editor
Based in Hollywood and a graduate of the American Film Institute, Cindy has editing experience across a number of genres including documentaries, narrative features and shorts. Her most recent work was for Director Anna Christopher, editing the documentary 'Appointment in Vancouver'. She has also worked as an assistant editor and post supervisor on a number of projects, one being the Oscar-nominated documentary 'Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience'.

Ryan White - Associate Editor
With a BA in Cinema from San Francisco State University, Ryan has a passion for working on socially minded documentaries and ethnographic films. He recently produced and edited Camp Unity, an independent film about Iraqi students attending an American performing arts program in Iraq's Kurdistan Region. He also spent 3 years in Vietnam working for WWF where he made 8 environmental awareness-raising documentaries.

John Califra - Composer
An award winning composer whose work includes scores for dramatic films, documentaries and live events such as New York City's Millennium Celebration. His impressive variety of styles has brought the attention of the NY Times, Variety, the Hollywood Reporter and The Sunday Times.  Credits include Keiko Ibi’s Oscar-winning 'The Personals', Jonathan Caouette’s indie hit 'Tarnation', and Barbara Rick’s Emmy-winning "She Says: Women In News"