Daniel Vernon
Ike White was a musical prodigy who recorded a funk and soul classic album inside a Californian prison in 1974. Then he disappeared. 30 years later, director Dan Vernon tracked him down, only to find a trail of wives, lives and false identities that leave as many questions as answers.
Dan Vernon journeys into the heart of America's most notorious supremacist group, with access to a modern day Missouri chapter: The Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
In 2013, Idris Elba produced and released "Idris Elba presents mi Mandela", an album inspired by his time researching and portraying Nelson Mandela in "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom". The musical culture of South Africa was a great influence to him, both present day and historically, and connecting to the music Mr. Mandela would have listened to throughout his life was a great aid in Elba’s preparation for the role. Arrangements were made to record the album in South Africa and Mali at the end of 2013, however, sadly just before Elba left, his father, Winston, passed away. While working simultaneously on the album and promoting his film, Elba had BAFTA award-winning director Daniel Vernon document his movements. "Mandela, My Dad and Me" not only documents one man’s struggle in producing his first album, but also his emotional quest to pay a fitting tribute to two inspirational men.
Is there such a thing as miracles? Mickey McGuigan, a lively 73 year old farmer turned writer, has been documenting those around him along the Northern Irish border. The stories may defy logic, but people swear by them. This is a disappearing world of folklore and magic. There's a man who cures ringworm on cows by spitting on them and a woman who can cure sick babies with a piece of string. We'll also meet a healer who claims he can cure cancer. He now has a six month waiting list of hundreds op people hoping for a miracle. This is a cinematic journey through the hidden world of rural Northern Ireland, where anything is possible.
Film-maker Daniel Vernon follows the veteran escapologist Ron Cunningham aka The Great Omani for more than five years and the result is this poignant documentary about the great entertainer. In the final years of his life, Cunningham was a shadow of his former self, being career by his limelight hating son who got roped into helping his father with stunts over the many decades. Ron is battling cancer and is also partly wheelchair-bound by a series of strokes. However, this remarkable man continued to perform with specially choreographed routines which saw him set himself alight and shower himself in glass. Two years before his death, he was still as fired up as ever and preparing himself for one final ‘farewell’ stunt.
