CYNTHIA LUKAS
Cynthia Lukas is a Producer-Director-Writer-Lecturer of transformative documentaries that educate, inspire and motivate, celebrating the oneness of humanity. She is in high demand as a passionate speaker about these films and their themes of peace, justice and sustainability.
She was born in North Little Rock, Arkansas. With a Master’s in Communications from Fairfield University, Cynthia began her career as a writer, journalist and college educator for more than 25 years. She was an award-winning writer of memoir, mystical poetry and young adult novel. She served as a two-term City Councilwoman in Scottsdale, Arizona.
She began her collaboration with Kell Kearns in 2004, when they co-created their non-profit educational media organization, Heaven on Earth Creations. Since then they have co-produced six acclaimed documentaries about global oneness and nonviolence. Their most recent films are their documentary about the final, tragic and triumphant years of Gandhi’s life, GANDHI’S GIFT (2017), and their documentary about Gandhi’s early transformational years in South Africa, GANDHI’S AWAKENING (2018). Both films are being distributed by American Public Television nationwide on PBS stations and internationally on APT Worldwide. Watch the trailers for GANDHI’S GIFT and GANDHI’S AWAKENING.
In 2019, Cynthia created the non-profit Sweet Springs Productions to expand the scope of her work to include stories about women activists, historical and current, which have rarely if at all been told. She begins with KASTURBA GANDHI: ACCIDENTAL ACTIVIST, knowing that is the way so many girls and women become activists—accidentally. But this does not diminish their power in any way, as Cynthia believes that female activists hold the key to world peace and sustainability and that the true gift of gender equity will be in their bringing balance and serenity to all in our world.
Cynthia’s first film was THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE CHRIST: RECLAIMING JESUS FOR A NEW HUMANITY (2005). Filmed on location in the Holy Lands, it told the story of Jesus of Nazareth as portrayed in the Gnostic gospels. She was Co-producer and a Videographer for this documentary and its sequel, THE COMING OF THE DIVINE CHILD OF HUMANKIND (2006). Both have been shown in scores of Churches and Spiritual Centers across the US.
In 2006 Cynthia conceived, co-produced, wrote and narrated THE LEADERSHIP OF LOVE, describing the new “companion leadership” emerging globally and the key role of women and the feminine. THE LEADERSHIP OF LOVE was partially based on Cynthia’s extensive community service and lifelong political involvement.
In 2007 Cynthia co-produced Heaven on Earth Creations’ 20th Anniversary Director’s Release of IN REMEMBRANCE OF MARTIN, the biography of Martin Luther King Jr., which was a national PBS broadcast and Official Event of the 1987 King Holiday.
2007 also saw the release of RUMI RETURNING: THE TRIUMPH OF DIVINE PASSION. In addition to being Co-producer of RUMI RETURNING, Cynthia was writer and narrator.
Filmed on location in Turkey, RUMI RETURNING had its WORLD PREMIERE when Lukas and Kearns presented it to thousands of interfaith leaders at the UNESCO Universal Forum of Cultures in Monterrey, Mexico. Since then, they have presented it to sold-out audiences at scores of conferences and programs around the world to include the National Museum (Prague, EUROPEAN PREMIERE), National Cathedral (Washington D. C.), World Peace Festival (Berlin), Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions Launch (Chicago) and Festival of Sufi Culture (Fes). It was a Featured Film of the Tel Aviv Spirit Film Festival, Santa Fe Film Festival, Sun Valley Spiritual Film Festival and AWAKEN! Spiritual Film Festival.
From 2008-2011, RUMI RETURNING was broadcast on more than 330 PBS stations, many more than once. Watch a Trailer for RUMI RETURNING.
Cynthia is a featured speaker at screenings, conferences, workshops and programs around the world in conjunction with the documentaries she co-produces. She delivered the lecture “Why Is Rumi Returning Now?” at the RUMI ALIVE! Festival at the National Museum in Prague. She presented RUMI RETURNING to the Middle East Studies Association in Montreal. For the “Let’s Talk About It: Love and Forgiveness” Series co-sponsored by the American Library Association and the Fetzer Institute, Cynthia led a workshop on “Rumi: Love and Forgiveness” at the Three Rivers Library in Michigan.
“I remember your excellent presentation (GANDHI’S GIFT) at Center for Spiritual Living, Bakersfield several years ago. It was not only beautifully presented but professional, informative and entertaining. I look forward to your latest endeavor about KASTURBA GANDHI!”
–Rev. Barbara White (former Minister, CSL Bakersfield)
GLOBALIZED SOUL: STORIES FROM THE TIPPING POINT TO A NEW WORLD was completed in 2011 and chosen as the Featured Film for the UN International Day of Peace Broadcast that year. Its EUROPEAN PREMIERE was at the World Peace Festival in Berlin. Its AMERICAN PREMIERE was at the North American Interfaith Network Conference in Phoenix. Religion Today Online Magazine called it: “A mystic tour through the ancient longing of humanity for peace.” The Journal of India said: “This time Producers Kell Kearns and Cynthia Lukas have embraced the whole planet.”
Returning to her educational roots, Cynthia has presented RUMI RETURNING and GLOBALIZED SOUL at numerous colleges and universities, such as University of Kwa-Zulu Natal (Durban, South Africa), George Washington University, Wesleyan University, University of California-Irvine, Penn State University, University of Arizona, Northern Michigan University, Elizabethtown College, Paradise Valley Community College, Johnson County Community College, Boise State University, and Texas State University.
A few of the venues where she has presented GANDHI’S GIFT and GANDHI’S AWAKENING include the Parliament of World’s Religions (Toronto), Rice University (Boniuk Center for Religious Tolerance), University of Illinois, California Polytechnic University, Johnson County Community College, MultiFaith Alliance of NW Ohio (Toledo), CSL Claremont, CSL Chico and Chico Area Interfaith, etc. Contact Cynthia about a program tailor-made for your university, organization, or faith center event.