7500 MILES TO REDEMPTION

Saturday 3:15 pm | The Historic Elsinore Theatre

Followed by Q & A with director Emiko Omori
& a special performance by Tinh Mahoney!

Gifted guitarist and Willamette University alum Tinh Mahoney and several inmates find a redemptive liberation through a selfless act of kindness when they help to build a school in Vietnam, 7,500 miles outside the walls of the Oregon State Penitentiary. This documentary follows their four-year journey, culminates into a powerful story of transcendence, and discovers along the way that holding tight to one’s moral value and humanity is not exclusive to those outside of prison. This small story about stumbling into salvation by means of an unlikely path is a surprise not only to the audience, but also to the inmates themselves.

Additional Information
Click here to visit the OFFICIAL WEBSITE of the Village School Foundation
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Filmmakers Present
		TINH MAHONEY escaped Viet Nam just days before the fall of Saigon, and painful memories and images of the war will haunt him for the rest of his life. He submerged himself into a world where he did not know enough English to convey his feelings, nor could he find anyone to relate his experiences so his guitar became his closest friend. With legendary performers such as George Winston and John Fahey to produce his albums, he emerged as a premier internationally known guitarist and storyteller, invited to perform at both the White House and the National Mall. Years after the war ended, Tinh returned to his homeland, prompting him to start “The Village School Foundation”, an organization that builds schools and offers scholarships to needy children in Viet Nam.
		EMIKO OMORI, recipient of a Rockefeller Fellowship, is a highly regarded cinematographer, writer, and director. At the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, she won the Best Documentary Cinematography Award for two films: her own, Rabbit In The Moon, (also the recipient of a National EMMY) and Barbara Sonneborn’s Academy Award nominated Regret To Inform. She has produced and directed numerous highly acclaimed episodes for PBS and AMERICAN PLAYHOUSE. Omori’s current project, Power and Passion: The Technology of Orgasm, is in production for a 2007 release.