Hair Love, from Chicago-born director Matthew A. Cherry and producer Karen Toliver, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
What We Know:
- The seven minute animated feature centers around the relationship of a young Black father trying to style his daughter’s hair for the first time and how much he wants to help her.
- Back in 2017, Cherry told Because Of Them We Can: “Media is impressionable and when little kids see shows, movies and magazines and don’t see people who look like them in a heroic place or complex place or don’t see themselves at all it makes them seem abnormal or an exception to the rule and we’re trying to make them feel normal and have a little Black girl with maybe kinky hair feel like she’s represented.”
- Making the moment feel even more magical is the fact that Issa Rae, who lent her voice to the project, ended up being a host during Monday’s broadcast, and got to announce the nomination to the world.
- Cherry tweeted: “WOW! And to have @IssaRae announce it! It feels like a dream. Huge thanks to our great team….our kickstarter backers & @SonyAnimation for believing in us.”
- After retiring from the NFL in 2001, Cherry has been working steadily in Hollywood for almost two decades. Frist, as a production assistant, then moving on to working as a director of music videos, short films, and long feature films including The Last Fall and 9 Rides and was an executive producer on Spike Lee’s BlacKKKlansman.
The 92nd Annual Academy Awards will air February 9th on ABC. And if you haven’t already, do yourself a favor and check out the short.
