This Animation About Natural Hair Has Nearly Tripled Its Initial Kickstarter Goal... And It Still Has Three Days Left

Aug 7

Aug 7 This Animation About Natural Hair Has Nearly Tripled Its Initial Kickstarter Goal... And It Still Has Three Days Left

Kickstarter has always been great for people to make their projects a reality with the help of others, but recently animations have really been benefitting from the platform.

NFL player-turned-filmmaker Matthew A. Cherry is director of an animation project which has seen it's initial Kickstarter goal of $75,000 nearly tripled (it's currently sitting at just over $223,000), with three days still to go before the cut-off for backers.

The five-minute animation, Hair Love, is about father Stephen's relationship with his daughter, Zuri, and her unruly hair. Despite having locks himself, Stephen relies on his wife for help in the hair department, but when she's not around before a big event, he takes on the job to style Zuri's hair. Her hair - he soon learns - has a life of its own, and has other plans.

The animated short not only offers representation of natural hair that is rarely seen in media but also portrays a positive image of black fathers, who are often stereotyped as absent and disconnected from their children.

“This story was born out of seeing a lack of representation in mainstream animated projects, and also wanting to promote hair love amongst young men and women of colour,” Cherry wrote on the Kickstarter campaign. “It is our hope that this project will inspire.”

Cherry has been sat on the idea for Hair Love for years, but said that it wasn't until he saw videos going viral of black fathers doing their daughters' hair and being prominent figures in their children's lives that he found the confidence to finally create the animated short.

With nearly 4,000 backers and their funding targets smashed, Hair Love has got the green light and the team will begin working to finish the project before its March 2018 world premiere.

There's absolutely no doubt that little girls and their fathers will be thankful for such a project for years to come.

If you're interested in backing Hair Love, you can pledge here.