Artwork Depicting Martyred Peace Advocates Spun Into Film

You may recall Laguna Beach's Tim Leedom from his books about the evils of organized religion. Or his TV and film production work. Or his carrers as a college-football player and NFL scouting facilitator. Or his time in Hawaii's offices of power. Or his publishing companies.

Leedom's latest project brushes up against at least a couple of these areas. His Newport Beach-based American Nation Films has begun filming the documentary Satyagraha, which was Mahatma Gandhi's policy for nonviolent resistance and the name of artwork Leedom commissioned years ago. Shown here, the artwork, which has been on permanent display at Soka University since being unveiled at the Aliso Viejo campus' Peace Day four years ago, depicts 20 martyred peace advocates. Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., John Lennon, Medgar Evers, Bishop Oscar Romero, Cesar Chavez, Yitzak Rabin, Anwar Sadat, Abraham Lincoln, JFK, RFK and others are also the subects of the documentary.

"Satyagraha is more than a simple biography of men and women who sacrificed their lives for peace, justice and nonviolence," says Leedom. "Our documentary is a call for peace. War has failed."

The film will also examine wars caused by religion, the military-industrial complex and "war culture" fueled by movies, blind patriotism and extreme nationalism. "There will be no sacred cows in our documentary," says director Lennart Martinson, an award-winning infomercial maker.

No word yet on a release date.