'Hair Love' filmmakers on normalizing black hair and 'girl dads'
In "Hair Love," a young girl named Zuri wakes up one morning and attempts to style her hair in a way befitting the special occasion she excitedly prepares to attend. When it doesn't quite go as planned, she turns to her father for help. Except he's no expert either.
But it's OK. He learns.
"I liked the idea of something that was centered around a black family, because so often you don't see that in animation," says writer and co-director Matthew A. Cherry of the short film that originated from a 2017 Kickstarter campaign and is now nominated for an Oscar at the 92nd Academy Awards being held Sunday.
"It felt like a great opportunity to really shine the spotlight on black fathers, because so often in mainstream media they just get a bad rap," he adds. "If you watch movies and TV, you would think they don't exist, but studies have actually shown that they're among the most involved groups in their kids' lives."
Cherry, a former NFL wide receiver, turned to directing ("The Last Fall," "9 Rides") after he left football, but this is his first animated project. Inspired by the videos he came across of dads doing their daughters' hair, he sees the short as an opportunity to normalize black hair.
"Every week it seemed like there was a new story with a kid not able to go to school because of the
