Our family drama wrapped up its 2020 film festival run this week with the announcement of it winning the award for Best Producer at the Chicago Indie Film Awards (CIFA) for December 2020.
The award is shared by the ten producers on the film, spear-headed by Sarah Hawkins (Producer) and Bradley Hawkins (Executive Producer), and supported by co-producers, Ryan Geesaman and Lauren Zehr, as well as associate producers, Brenda Ellis, Greg Ellis, Ginger Greenfield, Gorman Ruggiero, Jackie Walker, and William Weik.
This late December 2020 award from the CIFA ended up being the 100th award for Calf Rope from 25 of the 35 festivals and film competitions that our film was selected for from around the world. Besides being seen at festivals and competitions from June through December 2020 in13 states (AR, AZ, CA, GA, IL, MS, NJ, NY, NY, OR, PA, TX, and WV) our family drama was also applauded in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, India, Italy, the Netherlands, and in Romania during that six-month time frame.
Though the film as a whole was honored with 23 awards and six nominations during just the last six months of 2020 due to its June 7, 2020 release for Best Short Film, Best Family Film, Best Western, Best Children Film, Best Redemptive Film, Best Long Short, and Best Featurette, and Bradley Hawkins won six awards and a nomination for Best Direction during that same time period, its 11 year-old Lukas Barnett that has been cleaning up with the bounty of awards and nominations for his debut film performance as "Brandon" in the film from June through December of last year. Only nine years -old during the production, the young co-star won a whopping 19 awards and three nominations during those same six months in the Best Supporting Actor, Best Chid Actor, and Best Young Actor under 18. Following right behind him with 10 wins and three nominations for Best Actor was lead actor, Gorman Ruggiero for his heart-felt portrayal of "Mac" the lovable grandfather to "Brandon." Best Supporting Actress awards went to Avery Kellington and Jackie Walker in 2020 while Shawn Cassidy, Logan Donaldson, John Carl Jr., Brock Beltz, John Rudegeir, and Jeremy Good were in all included in Best Ensemble Cast wins during the year.
Our Director of Photography, Sofia Monzerratt won five Best Cinematography awards and three nominations for her beautiful work, screenwriters Jake Stetler and Bradley Hawkins won five awards and two nominations for their original story and screenplay, while Ellie Brooke and Hawkins won eight awards and two wins for their collaboration on the Original Music Score. Production Designer, Lyndsey Hinkle won five awards for her stellar work recreating the 1960s on set, while Sound Designer, John Avarese won three awards, and Ryan Geesaman won two awards for Best Editing as well as two wins for the editing on the trailer along with sound designers/mixers, brothers Alex and Jakob Zug. Producer Sarah Hawkins was also awarded with two wins for her Best Costuming, and Shelly Lynn Koch took home a Best Hair & Make-Up award for her hair stylings and aging make-up for Avery Kellington as "Corah."
Calf Rope will remain on the film festival and film awards competitions circuits throughout all of 2021 with its first stop being in Polson, Montana for the Flathead Lake International Cinemafest (FLIC) on January 29th where young Lukas Barnett is nominated for Best Actor, rather than as a supporting or child actor in the film.
After FLIC held at the Showboat Cinema 6 in Polson, Montana, the next stop for Calf Rope will be South Carolina for the Beaufort International Film Festival on February 17th, where Calf Rope rolls into the festival as a finalist (nominee) for Best Short Film.
For the complete list of the 25 film festivals and film awards competitions where Calf Rope earned its 100 award wins and 21 nominations in 2020, check out the official * IMDb awards page for our film.
*International Movie Database
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