Calf Rope
WATCH TRAILER:
During the summer of ’66, a former rodeo champion and cattle auctioneer from Oklahoma bonds tightly with his young grandson from suburban Pennsylvania while teaching him a few tricks from his previous trades. Shot entirely in rural Pennsylvania, Calf Rope captures the intense love that grandparents often share with their grandchildren and the legacy that lives on long after they have gone.
Bradley Hawkins was born in Encino, California on September 2, 1956. After a successful career during the 1980s as the founding director of an internationally-acclaimed youth music organization, Hawkins began his acting career in the San Francisco Bay Area during the early 1990s starring on stage in several theatrical productions and working on-camera in commercials, shorts, industrial films, television shows, and feature films. Upon moving to Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1997, Hawkins taught film studies, acting, and humanities courses at the high school level, and directed several stage productions throughout his 12 years as an educator.
Since retiring from service as a high school teacher in 2012, Hawkins returned to acting on-camera and then branched out as an award-winning indie film director with his debut comedy short, Roller Coaster (2015) which earned 30 film festival awards across the country. Shortly after Hawkins and his daughter launched their own boutique film production company, Dadley Productions, focusing on family-friendly content that he describes as being in the vein of live-action, Pixar-esque material. His second short, the comedy-fantasy, Filling In (2016), more than doubled the award count of Roller Coaster and was not only screened in 19 states across the country but also overseas in Australia, Canada, England, Italy, and Lithuania, as well.
Hawkins’ latest short, the coming-of-age family drama, Calf Rope, was released in June 2020 and exceeded the success on the film festival circuit of his two previous films, combined, winning over 150 awards from around the world. Calf Rope is now distributed on PureFlix throughout the U.S., on the New Faith Network in the U.K. the Netherlands, Australia, and New Zealand, and on HolyFlix in Brazil.
Hawkins’ newest short film, the psychological thriller, NIGHT VOICES (2023), was released in March 2023 and has already won over 50 film awards in the U.S., Europe, and India on its film festival tour. Hawkins is also the award-winning co-writer on the upcoming faith-based feature screenplay, WRANGLED, as well as the award-winning feature-length expansion of CALF ROPE which he hopes to see go into production by the fall of 2024.
Loosely based on my childhood memories of the tight bond I had with my Grandad Mac, CALF ROPE focuses on the legacy that he unknowingly left behind that influenced me as to what it means to be the playful, connected, and active grandpa that I strive to be with my own two young grandchildren today. CALF ROPE means more to me on a personal level than any other creative endeavor I’ve ever embarked on. It truly feels like my entire life has led to this moment in time for the purpose of telling this story of the importance of leaving a long-lasting legacy for the generations beyond through the wonder and magic of cinema.