The People Speak Radio

Continuing his search for new talent and for producing films that appeal to global audiences, Diaz produced THE BENGALI NIGHT (shot in English in India) that launched the career of directorNicholas Klotz and featured Hugh Grant in his first leading role along with John Hurt and Indianmega-star Shabana Azmi. This film marked the beginning of Diaz’s, collaboration with American studios, in particular Columbia Pictures, and the opening of his first US based production company in Los Angeles, Sceneries Entertainment.

Soon after, New Line Cinema tapped Diaz to co-finance and produce “The Man Inside”, a political thriller directed by Bobby Roth with Jurgen Prochnow and Peter Coyote.

After moving to Los Angeles in 1991, he has continued to produce films with budgets ranging from $200,000 and $15 million under his production shingle. With “Heavy Metal 2000”, he was able to broaden his production knowledge with the animated production and his collaboration with Columbia/TriStar.

In 2003, he created Cinema Libre Studio, with a consortium of partners to provide an alternative structure for intelligent, independent films to get developed, financed, produced and distributed. As media consolidation increases, independently distributed films are one of the few outlets remaining for free speech, alternative views andmovies with a message.

The significance of independently produced and distributed films has grown exponentially as audiences clamor to see feature films and documentaries that introduce new ideas, are socially conscious and that may challenge the status-quo. Cinema Libre Studio believes that movies can make a difference.

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Grandfather taught Arun to understand nonviolence through understanding violence. “If we know how much passive violence we perpetrate against one another we will understand why there is so much physical violence plaguing societies and the world,” Gandhi said.

Arun worked for 30 years as a journalist for The Times of India. Together, Arun and Sunanda started projects for the social and economic upliftment of the oppressed using constructive programs, the backbone of Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence. The programs changed the lives of more than half a million people in over 300 villages and they still continue to grow. Arun is the author of several books. The first, A Patch of White (1949), is about life in prejudiced South Africa; then, he wrote two books on poverty and politics in India; followed by a compilation of M.K. Gandhi’s Wit & Wisdom. He also edited a book of essays on World Without Violence: Can Gandhi’s Vision Become Reality? And, more recently, wrote The Forgotten Woman: The Untold Story of Kastur, the Wife of Mahatma Gandhi, jointly with Sunanda.

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At age 24, Sarah’s next move was to Los Angeles, to run West Coast Promotion for leading independent Relativity Records. After proving herself with a run of top 5 hits, Sarah was made National Promotion Director at the age of 25. When Sony Music later bought Relativity, Sarah was named Vice President Promotion and moved to NYC. At age 27, she was the youngest VP in the industry, and one of few women to hold a VP job.

In 1995, after 7 years at Relativity/Sony Sarah co-founded her own company, On Board Entertainment (OBE). OBE is an action sport, music and youth lifestyle marketing agency. Originally housed in Sarah’s east village greenhouse, OBE slowly but surely became one of the leading sports & music marketing agencies in America. Over the years the company landed clients such as Levis, MTV, Sobe, Sega, and Nike, and moved their offices to Sausalito, California.

In 1998, while still CEO of OBE, Sarah created The Spitfire Tour, a tour of musicians, actors and activists speaking out on global issues. While running the tours, Sarah became more aware of world issues, and began focusing on activism in her personal life. In 2002, after a four-year struggle between her personal and professional life, Sarah sold OBE and created a new agency dedicated solely to responsible businesses, non-profits, and other cause-related ventures ~ The Spitfire Agency.

Sarah is involved in a number of community and world projects. In 2001 she was selected to go to war-torn Afghanistan on a Global Exchange delegation with 10 other women, including human rights activist Bianca Jagger. She is on the board of 501c3 Youth Speaks, and offers assistance to a number of non-profits including Circle Of Life, Voice Yourself, Honor The Earth and Campaign for Innocent Victims In Conflict (CIVIC). A vegetarian since the age of 22, she is also a supporter of PETA, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, In Defense Of Animals and Farm Sanctuary.

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In 1939 actor/folksinger Will Geer organized the “All-American Left-Wing Folk-Song Revival Movement,” a benefit concert for migrant workers in California. It was there that Pete met Woody Guthrie and began touring with him. In 1940 he started the Almanac Singers with Lee Hays, Pete Hawes, and Millard Lampell; during his tours with this pro-union, anti-war group the FBI began a file on him. The group broke up at the start of World War II (Seeger enlisted in the Army; Guthrie entered the Merchant Marine).

After the war he started People’s Songs (later Sing Out!), and in 1949 formed a new group, The Weavers, with Lee Hays, Fred Hellerman, and Ronnie Gilbert. For years he had trouble with the House UnAmerican Activities Committee and was, effectively, blacklisted. He recorded dozens of albums (Columbia, Folkways) and wrote thousands of songs, among which are “Where Have All the Flowers Gone,” “If I Had a Hammer,” and “Turn, Turn, Turn.” He helped start the Greenwich Village music magazine Broadside in the 1960s and reorganized the Newport Folk Festival.

In 1996 the North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance awarded him its first Lifetime Achievement Award. He helped start Clearwater, an organization which sails a 106-foot boat along the Hudson River to show children the dangers of pollution. Pete remains active, giving performances, interviews, speaking out and ever the activist singing and working on behalf of the rights of the average ordinary citizen.

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