Short Synopsis

Hollywood’s award-winning green filmmaker, Greg Reitman, takes us on a cinematic journey to take notice, stop the cycle of violence, and seek ways to find personal and ecological peace. ROOTED IN PEACE challenges viewers to examine their values as Americans, and as human beings. Today we are at war within ourselves, with our environment, and with the world, and it’s up to each of us to make peace with ourselves, and our planet.

Long Synopsis

ROOTED in PEACE challenges viewers to examine their values as Americans and human beings. Today we are at war within ourselves, with our environment, and with the world. Director and award-winning filmmaker Greg Reitman invites viewers on a film journey to take notice of the world we live in, proactively seek ways to find personal and ecological peace, and stop the cycle of violence. The film relies not only on memoir, but also interviews with such luminaries and activists as Deepak Chopra, music legends Donovan, Mike Love, and Pete Seeger, film director David Lynch, Noble Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire, media mogul Ted Turner, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, green architect William McDonough, neuroscientist Dan Siegel and many others. Reitman learns from all of them, and heeds Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s words, that if the forest is to be green, every tree must be green; if there’s going to be Peace on earth, then everybody needs to experience that quality of Peace within themselves. And so in asking viewers to do the same, Reitman poses the basic question: How do we want to live? Reitman’s journey is an example of transformation — how one person can learn to make the necessary changes to enjoy a better life — and in so doing inspire others to want to improve their own lives, and society as a whole.

For information about the campaign for planting trees, visit: www.rootedinpeacefilm.com

To plant a tree, text 1TREE to 55755

ROOTED IN PEACE

Social Media Channels

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ROOTED IN PEACE

Director’s Statement — Greg Reitman

As a teenager, I lived in the first gulf war in Israel and that one experience changed my life. When I returned to college, I was unaware of the affects of PTSD. Later that year, I had the opportunity to study abroad in Hokkaido University and during that time visited the Hiroshima Peace memorial. It was at that moment, where I suddenly realized the impact of war and the destructive power of war. Completely in denial, when I returned home to Amherst, I woke in tears wanting to heal the world. I created the Giving Tree: ROOTED in PEACE.

Film is an instrument of change. By allowing the viewer to share my personal story, the experience becomes as profound as the journey itself. In our new awareness film, ROOTED in PEACE, goes beyond the normal boundaries of filmmaking and uses the personal story as a vehicle for change combined with a collective of peace, environmental and heath activists to raise awareness of the issue of our interconnectedness to the planet and the stakes that lie ahead.

With this project, I want to tackle the most important problem the world has ever faced, that war serves no purpose, whether personal, environmental or political. As Ghandi states, “You must be the change you see in the world“ As a collective species we need to understand that change begins within oneself. By combining a personal and compelling film and a groundbreaking activation campaign, we want to create a social movement for change.

About the film

ROOTED IN PEACE chronicles the life story of Greg Reitman as an everyman for contemporary America. It recounts the trauma of his living in Israel during the first Gulf War and his subsequent experience of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Decades after visiting the Hiroshima Peace memorial, he shares his personal experience of traveling to Japan, and questions why he didn’t cry. In denial of his own PTSD, he seeks answers to find his own peace. He first turns to his brother-in-law, who recounts his own horrific memories of 9/11. Seeking divine inspiration, Reitman visits the United Nations to meet long time peace activist Pete Seeger. Seeger then invites the filmmaker to Beacon, NY so he can witness the weekly Peace and Support the Troops demonstrations held on opposite sides of the street. As he witnesses the anger of the pro-war demonstrators, he sees how wide the divide between war demonstrators has become.

In Corona Park, where he grew up, he reflects on the meaning of Peace and recounts his journey of comic books and video games, 9/11, the trauma vortex, and the difficulties of achieving Peace. He decides to return to his old roots of planting trees during the Universal Day of Peace. However, as his shovel hits cement, he realizes that even putting a tree in the ground can be difficult. He continues along the journey, with the idea of joining a larger movement, a Peace movement, and marches in the rain across the Brooklyn Bridge. As he crosses over the bridge with thousands of other people, he’s dismayed that none of the US outlets cover the event. The mayor is unable to attend, and there are no major celebrities.

He continues his journey, this time taking a new approach. After conversing with Deepak Chopra, he starts to question what it means to be a Peacemaker and to control one’s emotions. As Chopra so eloquently says, “Angry peace activists can’t make peace.” He starts to question his approach and whether he should be looking within himself. After Chopra mentions his old friend Maharishi Mahesh Yogi has a place in Fairfield, Iowa called Maharishi University and he discovers The Beach Boys are coming to town the same weekend, he decides to take his girlfriend, Britta, for a getaway weekend.

He talks about how he and Britta met, and how secure he feels within their relationship. Beach Boy Mike Love, a Maharishi devotee, talks about traveling to India for the first time, meeting Maharishi, and discovering the new realm of meditation. Greg also meets with legendry singer, Donovan, who also shares his experience of meeting Maharishi in India with Mike Love and The Beatles in the sixties. Intercut with old black and white footage, we see Donovan, Mike Love, George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Mia Farrow with the guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Donovan plays a verse he wrote with George Harrison entitled The Hurdy Gurdy Man, and talks about the four levels of living: sleeping, waking, dreamless sleep and the fourth level of consciousness. He says that, once activated, a whole new level or experience unfolds with Transcendental Meditation.

He returns from his trip truly inspired. In an effort to understand the inner workings of the mind, he meets up with top neurologist Dan Siegel. Siegel explains the various parts of the brain to him, including the area of the cortex that expands like a muscle after repeated meditation. He finds this fascinating.  

As the story unfolds, the filmmaker begins to look at his own relationship, and starts to question his unconscious behavior. Bringing front and center his relationship with his girlfriend, he starts to see a pattern of dysfunction that concerns him. He realizes that if he continues with this type of behavior he will lose the ones he loves the most. Though the filmmaker wants to change, he has no idea where to start. He decides to follow his heart, which leads him to Santa Cruz and an organization called Heart Math. There, he learns that the heart is ten times more powerful than the brain and that decisions made from the heart encompass love, compassion and wisdom, the higher cognitive centers of our being. As he learns a heart meditation, he visualizes his girlfriend Britta in nature. We hear the heart monitor’s measurement of well-being rise and feel an overwhelming sense of heartfulness.

As he learns his heart meditation, it becomes clear that getting the brain and heart in sync are integral to his well-being. He decides to return to Maharishi University for the David Lynch Weekend. During his time, he meets David Lynch who explains the benefits of Transcendental Meditation and how it removes stress, aggravation, and anxiety. He also meets with Dr. Fred Travis, Director of the Center for Brain, Consciousness, and Cognition at Maharishi University of Management, who explains the parts of the brain that are affected by meditating, and why meditating creates a more peaceful way of being. We see him meditating as the music of David Grays’ Davey Jones Locker takes us deeper into our consciousness. As he exits the dome, he understands that the power was in him all the time, he just never knew how to activate it. He returns home to Los Angeles, and we see the young couple under a beautiful morning sunrise. His girlfriend Britta talks about how things have changed in their relationship now that he is meditating.

As he continues his journey toward health and well-being, we soon discover the complexities of getting the brain and body to function at the same frequency and the inner struggles of getting life into balance. Britta reminds us that while Greg is often sick, the medication western doctors are prescribing isn’t working. As Greg searches on Google, Dr. Mark Hyman speaks on Ted Med about functional medicine. The film takes an environmental twist as environmental thought leader Paul Hawken talks about man pulling toxic metals from planet earth and how these gets into our air and food supply. Dr. Alejandro Junger discusses the relationship of the forest to our lungs. Dr. Mark Hyman concludes that these toxins are now found in the umbilical cords of fetuses.

We see Greg entering the Ultra Wellness Center in the Berkshires of Massachusetts after twelve vials of blood have been drawn. While speaking with his doctor, Greg realizes his condition is more serious than he thought. Determined to get to the bottom of his condition, he’s surprised to learn that his health condition is related to his immune system that is affected by the food he consumes and the amalgam dental fillings in his teeth.

After Greg leaves Dr. Hyman’s office, we see him at a holistic dentist removing his amalgam dental filings as Lenny Kravitz plays his song, Dig In. He continues his journey, this time meeting with Deborah Garcia, one of the founders of the organic food movement. Garcia tells him about how our food is genetically modified. After removing these foods from his diet, Greg meets up with a local nutritionist, Marlyn Diaz. She explains the impact of high glucose and how the body secretes high levels of cortisol when stressed. We see Dr. Mehmet Oz illustrate the fat body as a stressed out body. Marlyn also recommends some vitamins and juicing as a way to detoxify the body and promote health and wellness. Fascinated by the role of plants, Greg continues his journey and meets Chris Kilham, who says plants may be the best medicine in achieving health and balance. He tells us that chocolate cocoa pods are medicinal for heart and brain function, and that acai and blueberries are among the best super foods for digestion.

In his new effort at healthy eating, Greg strolls the aisles of Whole Foods and comes home with a bag of super foods he puts into a smoothie. As Greg incorporates exercise into his new regime, we see his intensive workout of swimming, running, tennis, and aerobics to the montage tune of New Radicals, You Get What You Give.

At home, a report on NPR tells how trees hold information related to climate change. The film takes an unusual turn as Deepak Chopra and Chris Kilham talk about our inability to recognize the impact of climate change. Kathy Abusow, of the Center of Forest, reiterates the importance of trees. The film dives deeper as William McDonogh explains the ocean is heating up and that, by the end of the century, our coral reefs will disappear.

We see Greg in Grand Central Station as Pink Floyd’s, Time rings in the bells. Greg questions what will it take to wake up mankind, one storm, one tree falling, one coral reef, as if he’s beginning to connect the dots with humanity on how delicate is the world we live in.

The film pans across the beautiful Malibu mountains as Greg meets teacher Ananda Giri of One World Academy. Ananda reminds Greg of the importance of his journey and the trees. It’s the critical juncture where the viewer learns that we are the tree, that we are interconnected, it’s just that the tree is not inside the body. Marc Barash, an environmental thinker from the Green World Campaign sums it up with Einstein’s quote that it’s delusional to think we’re not interconnected.

The viewer is then taken deeper into the story of the “meaning of life” as Greg walks through an ancient redwood forest. We see Greg in action as he begins to wrap a grove with yellow caution tape reminding the viewer of what needs to be protected. The scene is intercut with Paul Hawken talking about the rise of people, being informed, educated, going through a trans-cultural, transformational process, an immune response to what’s happening on planet Earth. As Greg concludes his tree wrapping, we see him inside the grove as he looks up at the redwood trees. We also see seeds opening as a woman and her husband lift up their beautiful baby, creation in its fullest sense.

As the film continues, Paul Hawken, Deborah Garcia and Marc Barash emphasize the importance of trees and the idea that nature is always giving back. Visually stunning footage takes us deep inside the forest, as CEO, Casey Sheahan of Patagonia talks about the seeds producing the next generation. Marc Barash concludes with the world tree, and the notion that trees have a trunk and arms, just as a person does.

As we come out of the forest, we see Greg at the Self-Realization Center. Everything has come full circle for him.  As the guide Ananda reflects on trauma and the need to break through, we see him reflecting on yoga and water, in full mediation, full reflection. His path to enlightenment continues as we meet author and Tibetan master Romio Threstha who explains that, like a river, individual consciousness falls into the sea. As the filmmaker walks out of frame, we see him on the move as Ted Turner reminds us it is the seventh inning and like life, this game isn’t over. Here, William McDonough shares the concept of ants working together for the greater good, not destroying their planet, but living in harmony.

There’s one more thing that Greg must do in order to complete his journey. To pass the torch forward, he gives the bonsai tree to his nephew, then plants trees in urban neighborhoods, with other people. Planting the seeds of peace, rooted in hope.

ROOTED in PEACE

Filmmaker Biographies

GREG REITMAN (Director/Writer/Producer)

Sundance Award^® winning producer Greg Reitman is the Founder of Blue Water Entertainment, Inc independent production company focusing on environmentally conscious entertainment. Widely regarded as Hollywood’s “Green Producer,” Greg produced the 2008 SUNDANCE Audience Award-winning feature documentary “FUEL". His first venture as a filmmaker he directed the classic film, Hollywood’s Magical Island-Catalina narrated by Emmy award winning actor Peter Coyote which debut nationally on PBS.

Greg freelances for The Huffington Post a leading online news agency that focuses on green issues and trends in the geopolitical marketplace. Greg was written up in Movie Maker Magazine as one of the top ten producers in the Entertainment industry making content that makes a difference in the world.

Greg is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He received his master’s degree at UCLA in Film & Television, for Writing, Directing, Marketing and Distribution as well as a Masters Certificate at Tel Aviv University for Creative Producing. He is an alumnus at the Hollywood Film Institute, the International Documentary Association, and a member of the (DGA) Directors Guild of America.

BRITTA REITMAN (Producer)

Britta Reitman is the producer, animation supervisor and music supervisor on the feature documentary film, “ROOTED in PEACE.” She began her film career working as a Production & Development Executive for William Shatner Productions. She worked in management for Barry Greenberg at Celebrity Connection an affiliate of TV Land Network and veteran entertainment public relations firm, Putnam & Smith. She currently works at Walt Disney Television Animation as a Production Manager for television shows, “The Mickey Club House”, “Minnie” and “Star and The Forces of Evil.”

MICHAEL PERRICONE (Producer, Music Mixer, CES)

Michael Perricone began playing guitar and bass at the age of ten. While in high school, he formed a sound company, which gave him the chance to record one of the local bands in a commercial studio. This opened his eyes to recording and producing, and opened them wide.

For the past 30 years Michael Perricone has been involved in the post-audio business. He began as a co-founder Interlock Studios in Hollywood and has served as Director of Audio Post for Threshold Sound for six years. He recently launched his newest facility, Lotus Post, a 6-studio sound and video facility in Santa Monica, CA.  Recent film projects include sound supervising and mixing for "Hit and Run," "Angriest Man in Brooklyn," "Emanuel and the Truth About Fishes," and screenwriting, mixing and music composition for “Pass the Baton.” As a writer, he has penned episodes of Paramount’s “Star Trek: Voyager,” Disney’s “In a Heartbeat,” Spelling’s “Savannah,” and “Charmed.”

JONATHAN MCHUGH (Music Supervisor)

Jonathan McHugh has been the music supervisor for more than 35 film and television programs, including the upcoming Janis Joplin film directed by Academy Award nominee Amy Berg.  Most recently he produced Major League Baseball’s mobile TV show, “Japan Confidential,” and co-produced the Lionsgate film, “Christmas In Compton.”

His productions include Lifetime’s “Flying By” (David Zayas and Billy Ray Cyrus), Discovery’s , “Battle Ground Earth”, (Ludacris & Tommy Lee) and Lionsgate’s Rock Opera, “Repo The Genetic Opera” (Paul Sorvino, and Sarah Brightman. The first film he wrote and produced was Lionsgate’s “Snoop Dogg’s Hood of Horror” (Jason Alexander & Anson Mount.)

McHugh is a member of the Producers Guild, and a founding member of the Guild of Music Supervisors. He serves on the NARAS TV Committee for CBS TV’s “The Grammy Awards.”

Other television credits include programs for National Geographic, PBS, and Discovery.  Olivia has contributed to several independent films including Enlighten Up! which had a nationwide theatrical release in 2008. She lives in Boulder, Colorado with her husband and four year daughter.

DANE LAWING (Director Photography)

Dane Lawing is an Award-winning cinematographer whose global documentary work spans from the streets of Northern Iraq to the projects of North Jersey, with films including Academy Award-considered “Quest for Honor,” Morgan Spurlock’s “Comic Con IV: A Fan’s Hope,” “The Street Stops Here (PBS), “Casting By” (HBO) and “TEA Party America” (BBC).  He directed the Morgan Spurlock-produced film, “Man with a Violin,” currently in post-production. Narrative films include “Ponies” starring John Ventimiglia and Kevin Corrigan, “Thanksgiving” starring Seymour Cassel, and the Academy Award-winning “The Lost Cause,” directed by Oscar winner Jim Taylor.  Television credits include 27 episodes of “Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern” (Travel Channel), 37 episodes of “What Not To Wear” (TLC),  “Running in Heels,” (Style), “Chapelle Show” (Comedy), “The City” (MTV), “Man v. Food” (Travel), among many others.  Most recently, he was Director/ Director of Photography of A&E series, “Crazyhearts Nashville.” A former Art Director for advertising agencies including Grey Lowe and Rapp Collins, Dane has also lensed numerous commercials.

SEBASTIAN VIGNIERI (Editor)

Sebastian Vignieri is a seasoned editor having edited shorts, films, and over 15 television shows for ABC, A&E, Bravo, Discovery Channel, Fox, Animal Planet, MTV, Style, Spike, and True TV. “ROOTED in PEACE” is Sebastian’s documentary debut. Sebastian is a graduate of the UCLA Film School and received a certificate for film production at Brooks College.

GAIL YASUNAGA (Editor)

Gail Yasunaga is a veteran editor of feature films, television specials and documentaries screened in such festivals as Cannes, Sundance, South by Southwest, Berlin, Los Angeles and Taos. From dramatic thrillers to the feature documentaries of Rosanna Arquette, to comedy by Tommy Chong, Gail has extensive experience in both narrative and documentary films, giving her a keen sense of story, performance and structure. The feature documentary, “Changing Our Minds:  The Story of Dr. Evelyn Hooker” was nominated for an Academy Award. Gail is a graduate of the UCLA Film School and has taught Advanced Editing for the New Mexico Film Intensive at Santa Fe.

ANDREW RAIHER (Composer)

Andrew Raiher is a British film music composer and musician based in Los Angeles. Born and educated in London he studied violin and voice at the world-renowned Trinity College of Music. Upon graduating, Andrew pursued his main area of interests: writing, producing and performing in the recording studio. After producer Phil Chapman took him under his wing, Andrew learned the skills he needed to launch his film music career. Growing up with fellow composer, Ilan Eshkeri, Andrew collaborated with Eshkeri on several major motion pictures including, Layer Cake, Stardust and Hannibal Rising. Following those successes, Andrew was invited to write alongside composer Klaus Badelt, who was working in London at the time. That relationship was a winning combination and Andrew moved to Los Angeles to work on many projects with Klaus including, Constantine, TMNT and Poseidon. Many co-writes followed in the years to come including The Oranges (starring Hugh Laurie and Leighton Meester), Entre Lobos (Among Wolves), spring-boarding Andrew into his independent composing career that he now enjoys.

DANIEL ROJAS (Composer)

Composer and guitarist Daniel Rojas was born and raised in Costa Rica into a musical family. He moved to the US in 2006 to attend the prestigious jazz program at the University of North Texas, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude with a degree in Jazz Arranging & Composition. In 2009, he co-founded Vesper Sound Productions in Dallas, TX - where he composed extensively for commercials and Network shows; including work featured on National Geographic Television, the Discovery Channel and CNN Headline News. He later moved to Los Angeles, where he assisted German film composer Klaus Badelt (Pirates of the Caribbean, Gladiator, Beijing Olympics) on nearly 30 feature films, video games and live shows. During his time with Badelt, Daniel also worked on the arrangement of songs by Bryan Adams and the multiple Academy Award-winning duo of Alan Menken and Sir Tim Rice (The Lion King, Aladdin). He currently works as a freelance composer, arranger and orchestrator out of his studios in Santa Monica, CA.

ROOTED IN PEACE

Film Subjects (in Alphabetical Order)

DEEPAK CHOPRA

Deepak Chopra is an American bestselling author and public speaker. He is a prominent alternative medicine advocate and a promoter of increasingly popular forms of spirituality, for instance having been described in the New York Times as a "controversial New-Age guru". Through his books and videos, he has become one of the best-known and wealthiest figures in the holistic-health movement.

Chopra obtained a medical degree in India before emigrating in 1970 to the United States. As a physician he specialized in endocrinology and became Chief of Staff at the New England Memorial Hospital (NEMH). In the 1980s he began to practice transcendental meditation (TM). In 1985 resigned his position at NEMH to establish the Maharishi Ayurveda Health Center. Chopra left the TM movement in 1994 and founded the Chopra Center for Wellbeing.^[8] He gained a following after his interview on the The Oprah Winfrey Show regarding his books in the 1990s.

Chopra states that, combining principles from Ayurveda (Hindu traditional medicine) and mainstream medicine, his approach to health incorporates ideas about the mind-body relationship, a belief in teleology in nature and a belief in the primacy of consciousness over matter – that "consciousness creates reality". He claims that his practices can extend the human lifespan and treat chronic disease.

His beliefs and ideas are criticized by scientists and professionals in the medical field who say his treatments rely on the placebo effect; that he misuses terms and ideas from quantum physics (quantum mysticism); and that he provides people with false hope that may obscure the possibility of effective medical treatment.  According to Ptolemy Tompkins, the medical and scientific communities' opinion of him ranges from dismissive to damning; criticism includes statements that his approach could lure sick people away from effective treatments.

DONOVAN

Donovan is a Scottish singer, songwriter and guitarist. He developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music (notably calypso). He has lived in Scotland, London and California, and, since at least 2008, in County Cork, Ireland, with his family. Emerging from the British folk scene, Donovan reached fame in the United Kingdom in early 1965 with live performances on the pop TV series, Ready Steady Go!.

Having signed with Pye Records in 1965, he recorded singles and two albums in the folk vein, but after a new contract with US CBS/Epic Records his popularity spread to other countries. After extricating himself from his original management contract, he began a long and successful collaboration with Mickie Most, a leading British independent record producer era, with hits in the UK, the US and other countries.

His most successful singles were the early UK hits "Catch the Wind", "Colours" and "The Universal Soldier" in 1965. "Sunshine Superman" topped the US Billboard Hot 100 chart (number two in Britain), and "Mellow Yellow" reached US number two the following year, with "Hurdy Gurdy Man" in the Top 5 in both countries in 1968. He was the first artist to be signed to CBS/Epic Records by the new administrative vice-president, Clive Davis. Donovan and Most collaborated on hit albums and singles between 1965 and 1970.^[5] He became a friend of pop musicians including Joan Baez, Brian Jones and The Beatles. He taught John Lennon a finger-picking guitar style in 1968.^[6] Donovan's commercial fortunes waned after parting with Most in 1969, and he left the industry for a time.

Donovan continued to perform and record sporadically in the 1970s and 1980s. His musical style and hippie image was scorned by critics, especially after punk rock. He stopped performing and recording several times but had a revival in the 1990s with the emergence of the rave scene in Britain. He recorded the 1996 album Sutras with producer Rick Rubin and in 2004 made a new album, Beat Cafe. Donovan was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2014.

MIKE LOVE

Mike Love is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and activist who is a member and co-founder of the Beach Boys. For most of the Beach Boys' career, Love has been one of the band's lyricists, contributing to each of their studio albums.

In the 1960s, Love collaborated with Brian Wilson and was a lyricist on singles including "Fun, Fun, Fun" and "California Girls". During this period, his lyrics primarily reflected the youth culture of surfing, cars, and romance, which has been described by writers as having helped fashion pop culture's perception of the "California Dream".^[1] Love's work during this period also assumed elements of melancholy with noted examples being "The Warmth of the Sun"—written the day of John F. Kennedy's assassination—and "I'm Waiting for the Day" from Pet Sounds.

Starting in 1968, Love became a teacher of Transcendental Meditation under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The experience influenced his lyrics to take on themes of astrology, meditation, politics and ecology. Following this, Love's lyrical direction shifted to attempt to capture the joie de vivre of earlier efforts. In the late 1970s, Love began working on solo albums, releasing his first in 1981. In 1988, he, along with the other founding members of the Beach Boys, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The same year, the Love co-written "Kokomo" reached number one in the United States and was nominated for a Grammy.

In 1998, following the death of cousin Carl Wilson, Love and longtime Beach Boy Bruce Johnston licensed the Beach Boys name and continued touring as surviving Beach Boys Brian Wilson and Al Jardine embarked on solo endeavors. In 2011, Love reunited with the other remaining Beach Boys to produce a new album and embark on a tour for their 50th anniversary. Following the 50th anniversary reunion shows, Love resumed touring with Beach Boy Bruce Johnston.

DAVID LYNCH

David is an American film director, television director, visual artist, musician, actor, and author. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed a unique cinematic style. The surreal and, in many cases, violent elements contained within his films have been known to "disturb, offend or mystify" audiences.

Born to a middle-class family in Missoula, Montana, Lynch spent his childhood traveling around the United States, before going on to study painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, where he first made the transition to producing short films. Deciding to devote himself more fully to this medium, he moved to Los Angeles, where he produced his first motion picture, the surrealist horror film Eraserhead (1977). After Eraserhead became a cult classic on the midnight movie circuit, Lynch was employed to direct a biographical film about a deformed man Joseph Merrick, titled The Elephant Man (1980), from which he gained mainstream success. Then being employed by the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, he proceeded to make two films: the science-fiction epic Dune (1984), which proved to be a critical and commercial failure, and then a neo-noir crime film, Blue Velvet (1986), which was critically acclaimed.

Next, Lynch created his own television series with Mark Frost, the popular murder mystery Twin Peaks (1990–1991; 2016); he also created a cinematic prequel, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992), a road movie, Wild at Heart (1990), and a family film, The Straight Story (1999), in the same period. Turning further towards surrealist filmmaking, three of his subsequent films operated on "dream logic", non-linear narrative structures: the psychological thriller Lost Highway (1997), the neo-noir mystery film Mulholland Drive (2001) and the mystery film Inland Empire (2006). Meanwhile, Lynch embraced the Internet as a medium, producing several web-based shows, such as the animated short of Dumbland (2002) and the surreal sitcom Rabbits (2002).

Over his career, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations^[3] for Best Director and a nomination for best screenplay. Lynch has won France's César Award for Best Foreign Film twice, as well as the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival^[4] and a Golden Lion award for lifetime achievement at the Venice Film Festival. The French government awarded him the Legion of Honor, the country's top civilian honor, as a Chevalier in 2002 and then an Officier in 2007, while that same year, The Guardian described Lynch as "the most important director of this era". Allmovie called him "the Renaissance man of modern American filmmaking",^[7] while the success of his films has led to him being labelled "the first popular Surrealist."

NOBEL PEACE LAUREATTE MAIREAD MAGUIRE

Mairead Maguire also known as Mairead Corrigan Maguire and formerly as Mairéad Corrigan, is a peace activist from Northern Ireland. She co-founded, with Betty Williams and Ciaran McKeown, the Women for Peace, which later became the Community for Peace People, an organization dedicated to encouraging a peaceful resolution of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.  Maguire and Williams were awarded the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize. Maguire has also won several other awards.

In recent years, she has criticized the Israeli government's policy towards Gaza, in particular to the naval blockade. In June 2010, Maguire went on board the MV Rachel Corrie as part of a flotilla that unsuccessfully attempted to breach the blockade.

PETE SEEGER

Pete Seeger was an American folk singer and activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead Belly's "Goodnight, Irene", which topped the charts for 13 weeks in 1950. Members of the Weavers were blacklisted during the McCarthy Era. In the 1960s, he re-emerged on the public scene as a prominent singer of protest music in support of international disarmament, civil rights, counterculture and environmental causes.

A prolific songwriter, his best-known songs include "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" (with Joe Hickerson), "If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)" (with Lee Hays of the Weavers), and "Turn! Turn! Turn!" (lyrics adapted from Ecclesiastes), which have been recorded by many artists both in and outside the folk revival movement and are sung throughout the world. "Flowers" was a hit recording for the Kingston Trio (1962); Marlene Dietrich, who recorded it in English, German and French (1962); and Johnny Rivers (1965). "If I Had a Hammer" was a hit for Peter, Paul & Mary (1962) and Trini Lopez (1963), while the Byrds had a number one hit with "Turn! Turn! Turn!" in 1965.

Seeger was one of the folksingers most responsible for popularizing the spiritual "We Shall Overcome" (also recorded by Joan Baez and many other singer-activists) that became the acknowledged anthem of the 1960s American Civil Rights Movement, soon after folk singer and activist Guy Carawan introduced it at the founding meeting of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1960. In the PBS American Masters episode "Pete Seeger: The Power of Song", Seeger stated it was he who changed the lyric from the traditional "We will overcome" to the more singable "We shall overcome"

TED TURNER

Ted" Turner III is an American media mogul and philanthropist. As a businessman, he is known as founder of the cable news network CNN, the first 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television. As a philanthropist, he is known for his $1 billion gift to support the United Nations, which created the United Nations Foundation, a public charity to broaden support for the UN. Turner serves as Chairman of the United Nations Foundation board of directors.

Turner's media empire began with his father's billboard business, which he took over at 24 after his father's suicide. The business, Turner Outdoor Advertising, was worth $1 million when Turner took it over in 1963 (roughly $7.7 million in present day terms). Purchase of an Atlanta UHF station in 1970 began the Turner Broadcasting System. Cable News Network revolutionized news media, covering the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986 and the Persian Gulf War in 1991. Turner turned the Atlanta Braves baseball team into a nationally popular franchise and launched the charitable Goodwill Games. He helped reinvent interest in professional wrestling when he owned one of the most popular wrestling companies of the middle to late 1990s known as World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The Monday night show that it put on was the highest rated on cable and helped boosts Turner's channels of TNT and WTBS.

Turner's penchant for controversial statements earned him the nicknames "The Mouth of the South" and "Captain Outrageous". Turner has also devoted his assets to environmental causes. He was the largest private landowner in the United States until John C. Malone surpassed him in 2011. He uses much of his land for ranches to re-popularize bison meat (for his Ted's Montana Grill chain), amassing the largest herd in the world. He also created the environmental-themed animated series Captain Planet and the Planeteers.

ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU

Desmond Tutu is a South African social rights activist and retired Anglican bishop who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid. He was the first black Archbishop of Cape Town and bishop of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa (now the Anglican Church of Southern Africa).

Tutu's admirers see him as a man who since the demise of apartheid has been active in the defense of human rights and uses his high profile to campaign for the oppressed. He has campaigned to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, poverty, racism, sexism, the imprisonment of Chelsea Manning, homophobia and transphobia. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984; the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism in 1986; the Pacem in Terris Award in 1987; the Sydney Peace Prize in 1999; the Gandhi Peace Prize in 2007;^[1] and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. He has also compiled several books of his speeches and sayings.

ROOTED IN PEACE

Filmmaker Credits

Director: Greg Reitman
Screen Writer: Greg Reitman
Producers: Greg Reitman, Britta Reitman, Michael Perricone
Co-Producers: Chip Comins, Sally Ranney
Executive Producer:  Joanna Plasfky,Christopher Lindstrom, Ron Schlosser
Associate Producers:Stephanie Swengel, Phil Sauers, Mary Ann Lunetta
Composer: Andrew Raiher, Daniel Rojas
Editors: Tuffy Williams, Sebastian V, Gail Yasunaga
Cinematography: Dane Lawing
Sound:  Michal Perricone

Key Subjects (in alphabetical order): Deepak Chopra, Donovan, Mike Love, David Lynch, Nobel Peace Laureatte Mairead Maguire, Pete Seeger, Ted Turner, Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Sales: Rick Rosenthal (North America) 
Blue Water Entertainment presents a Greg Reitman film.

ABOUT BLUE WATER ENTERTAINMENT

BLUE WATER ENTERTAINMENT is a leading independent production company, developing and producing content in narrative, television, music, short form and documentary styles. True to the vision of its founder, the mission of BLUE WATER ENTERTAINMENT is to tell cinematically compelling, intentional, and empowering stories that make a difference in our world. Cinema is the place where dreams are made and where life stops. In the magic kingdom of storytelling, BLUE WATER ENTERTAINMENT’S slate of films focuses on current issues that impact our daily lives -- from politics, social justice and poverty to religion...and of course, the environment. For more information, please visit www.bluewatercompany.com.

Complete Cast List

Kathy Abusow, CEO, Sustainable Forestry Initiative

Marc Barash, Founder, Green World Campaign

Lester Brown, Founder, Earth Policy Institute

Joe Circionne, President of Ploughshares Fund

Gabriel Conley, Nephew

Jim Conley, Brother-in-Law

Fabien Cousteau, Founder Plant A Fish

Lama Surya Das, Tibetan Buddhist

Marlyn Diaz, Nutritionist

Jodie Evans, Founder, Code Pink

President Jose Marie Figueres, Former President, Costa Rica

Mathew Fox, Author, Theologian

Deborah Garcia, Activist, Founder of the Organic Movement

Jack Gilroy, Peace Activist

Ananda Giri, Teacher, One World Academy

Al Gore, Former Vice President

Paul Hawken , Environmentalist

Dr. Mark Hyman, Founder, Ultra-wellness Center

Dr. Alejandro Junger, Author, Clean Diet

Chris Kilham, Medicine Hunter

K’naan, Singer, Songwriter

Avon Mattison, Founder, Int’l Day of Peace

Dr. Rollin McCratty, Founder, Heart Math Institute

William McDonough, Founder, Cradle to Cradle

Jean Olewang, CEO, Virgin Unite Foundation

Britta Reitman, Producer

Dr. Gina Ross, Founder, Trauma Healing Institute

Dr. Mehmet Oz, Host, Dr. Oz Show

Bob Roth, Executive Director, David Lynch Foundation

Dr. Deborah Rozman, Co-Founder, Heart Math Institute

Jigar Shah, CEO, Carbon War Room

Casey Sheahan, CEO, Patagonia

Dr. Dan Siegel, Founder, Mind-sight Institute

Romio Threstah, Tibetan Artist

Dr. Fred Travis, Director, Center for Brain, Consciousness, and Cognition at Maharishi University of Management

ROOTED IN PEACE

THE WORLD IS AS YOU ARE

10 THINGS YOU CAN DO TO CHANGE YOUR WORLD TO BE FILLED WITH PEACE, LOVE, HEALTH AND CONSCIOUSNESS

1. Create a sanctuary space in your house for self-realization time
2. Create a future visualization
3. Listen to your heart
4. Share an idea that excites you with a friend
5. Listen to a song you love
6. Go on a hike
7. Give a gift to a loved one
8. Send a gratitude card
9. Learn to meditate
10. Plant trees