- The 2020 Oscars are airing on ABC this Sunday, February 9 at 8 p.m. E.T.
- Matthew Cherry's inspiring short film Hair Love won in the short film category on Sunday night.
- Cherry is the second athlete to win an Oscar. The late Kobe Bryant, who won in the same category last year, was the first.
- Below, we detail how exactly you can watch Hair Love, and the story behind the film that encourages acceptance of your natural hair.
In yet another year in which critics lambasted the Academy's short-sightedness and inability to champion representation and diversity, a heartwarming movie called Hair Love offers a bright spot—particularly after it won an Oscar in the short film category on Sunday night.
Directed and written by Matthew Cherry—featuring the voice of Issa Rae—IndieWire called Hair Love the "frontrunner" in the Best Animated Short Film category, as it's nominated alongside Daughter, Memorable, Sister, and Kitbull. The vibrant and emotional film follows a young girl named Zuri who just wants one thing: her hair done.
In absence of a mother figure and with a head full of natural curls, she must resort to YouTube tutorials and the inexperienced hands of her father for help. While it may seem like a simple premise, the storyline speaks volumes to the Black community. Not only was there the inspiring element of a young African American girl embracing her hair, but it offered the rare opportunity of showing a Black family depicted in animation with the father being shown in a positive light.
"A couple years ago I was coming across a lot of viral videos about African American fathers that were doing their daughters hair," Cherry explained to Good Morning America. "It really seemed like it was an anomaly, people were really sharing it because they weren't used to seeing it. I just wanted to normalize it and kind of shine a light cause often times Black men get a bad rap in not being involved in their kids' lives, and I really wanted to showcase a strong Black family unit and show that dads are present."
Hair Love's message of acceptance recently reached Texas teen DeAndre Arnold, who was suspended from his high school for his dreadlocks. Cherry, along with the short film's producers Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade, invited Arnold to attend the 2020 Academy Awards ceremony as their guest.
"We've all been so inspired by your story and this is the very least we can do to thank you for standing up for yourself and for your right to wear your natural hair at school," Cherry reportedly told Arnold.
And in case Arnold's story touched you, there's currently an online OrganizeFor petition that's advocating for the CROWN Act to be passed nation-wide. The bill would make it illegal to discriminate against individuals for their natural or protective hair styles in the workplace or in schools. California, New York, and New Jersey are currently the only states in the country to pass the CROWN Act.
"Hair Love was done because we wanted to see more representation in animation," Cherry said in his Academy Award acceptance speech. "We wanted to normalize Black hair. There's a very important issue that's out there, the CROWN Act, and if we can help to get this passed in all 50 states it will help stories like DeAndre Arnold's—who's our special guest tonight."
You can watch Hair Love online for free.
Unlike other Oscar-nominated movies, a trip to the theater or an account with a streaming service is not necessary to watch Hair Love. All you need is WiFi to access the short film, as it's accessible on Sony Picture Animation's YouTube channel. The clip, which clocks in at over six minutes, currently has over 14 million views after going live on December 5, 2019.
The film was made possible by a history-making Kickstarter campaign.
Thanks to Cherry's robust social media presence (he has over 167,000 Twitter followers), he was able to raise all the funds needed for the project on Kickstarter. The campaign began raising money in summer 2017 with an initial goal of $75,000. Cherry ended up raising a total of $284,058—the highest funded campaign for a film in Kickstarter history. The extra money enabled him to take the project further and collaborate with Sony Animation and Karen Toliver, a producer on the film and executive vice president of creative at Sony Animation.
“All we needed was a little help getting it over the finish line, and with Karen on our team, we were able to do that,” he told Good Morning America. “Had I just taken the script to Sony from the beginning without the audience, funding, or plan, they probably would have laughed me out of the room.”
Cherry used to play football for the NFL.
Though the Hair Love director and writer has been working in Hollywood for 13 years, he had a completely different career before switching over to show business. Cherry was an NFL wide receiver before retiring in 2007, playing for the Baltimore Ravens, Carolina Panthers, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Cincinnati Bengals. He's the second-ever professional athlete to win an Academy Award. The first was the late Kobe Bryant, who won for Best Animated Short Film in 2018. During his acceptance speech Cherry said, "This award is dedicated to Kobe Bryant. May we all have a second act as great as his was."
"It's just crazy. I just feel that much more like I have to represent," Cherry said on CBS This Morning. "We have to keep his memory alive. I was so excited to see what he was going to do with his second act with his career. First project, he gets an Oscar, and I knew he was going to do more projects."
Since starting out as a production assistant, Cherry has directed music videos for the likes of Snoop Dogg, Chloe X Halle, and Michelle Williams's "Say Yes" featuring Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland. He's also directed episodes of The Last OG, worked with Ava DuVernay, and even executive-produced the Oscar-nominated Spike Lee film BlackKklansman.
Hair Love is a book, too.
Yes, there is an accompanying picture book to go along with the film and it's just as adorable as you'd think.
“When you see all the pictures of kids in the classroom watching the short and then reading the book, the pictures of dads reading the book to their daughter, young girls pointing at scenes on the screen with joy, we're already making a change and an impact,” Cherry told GMA. “I keep getting a response to both the book and the short film from more people who are a little older saying, ‘I wish I had a project like this when I was younger, I may have loved my hair a little sooner.’”
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McKenzie Jean-Philippe is the editorial assistant at OprahMag.com covering pop culture, TV, movies, celebrity, and lifestyle. She loves a great Oprah viral moment and all things Netflix—but come summertime, Big Brother has her heart. On a day off you'll find her curled up with a new juicy romance novel.
