Former Football Player Matthew A. Cherry Launches Kickstarter For African-American Animated Film, ‘Hair Love’
Matthew A. Cherry is a man of many talents. The former football player — best known on the field as a wide receiver for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Cincinnati Bengals, Carolina Panthers, and Baltimore Ravens — has morphed into a writer and a director, working on a variety of commercials and music videos, and he even worked on some well-respected movies that premiered at SXSW.
Now, he’s stepping up his game once again with Hair Love, an animated African-American film about a father doing his daughter’s hair for the first time.
According to the official Kickstarter page for Hair Love, Cherry said that his initial goal was to raise $75,000 for the film. However, within a matter of days, he not only met that goal but more than exceeded it. The film has now received more than $136,000 in funding, and his new goal is to reach $200,000.
Cherry said that he got the inspiration for Hair Love by watching viral videos of black fathers doing their daughter’s hair.
“I’ve had the idea for this project for a couple of years now, but it wasn’t until I recently started coming across a lot of viral videos of black fathers interacting with their sons and daughters online that I finally had the confidence to try and make this a real thing.”
You can check out some of the videos that inspired Matthew Cherry below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds5kQlm5QVk
In Hair Love, the protagonist of the film is named Stephen — who, according to the illustrations, has locs of his own — and it will follow his trials and tribulations involved with doing his daughter Zuri’s hair.
#HairLove is a computer animated 5 minute short film about an African American father who tries to do his daughters hair for the 1st time. pic.twitter.com/8EPqyWzXsu
— Matthew A. Cherry (@MatthewACherry) July 21, 2017
With Hair Love, Cherry said that his biggest goal was not only to inspire the audience who watches it but to dispel the false notion that black fathers aren’t involved in their children’s lives.
What’s more, Cherry said that he was tired of the lack of representation of African Americans in animated media.
Finally, Cherry said that he wanted people to be inspired by — and appreciate — their natural hair.
“Through this project, it is my hope that we can show a positive image of black fathers and their daughters, while encouraging natural hair and self-love throughout the world through the animated space.”
This is another reason why I feel our #HairLove project is important. Black fathers being involved in their kids lives isn't an anomaly. https://t.co/ePrVzVFeOk
— Matthew A. Cherry (@MatthewACherry) July 17, 2017
We've added new perks like an Animation workshop with Pixar Animator @iFrankAbney & 5 more Personalized Drawing slots by @VashtiHarrison pic.twitter.com/5bVr44RKkT
— Matthew A. Cherry (@MatthewACherry) July 21, 2017
Support for Hair Love can start at any level on Kickstarter, and it involves all sorts of prizes like a digital download of the film, a Zuri pin, and more.
Leave your thoughts about Hair Love in the comments below.
[Featured Image by Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images]
