Search form

Animated Short ‘Hair Love’ Gets Theatrical Run with ‘The Angry Birds Movie 2’

Matthew A. Cherry’s Kickstarter-funded film, about a father’s challenging quest to do his daughter’s hair, makes its North American debut in front of ‘The Angry Birds Movie’ sequel hitting theatres August 14.

Sony Pictures Animation has just announced that Hair Love, Matthew A. Cherry’s animated short film about the relationship between an African-American father, his daughter Zuri, and the most daunting task a father could ever come across – doing his daughter’s hair – will make its theatrical debut in North America on August 14, playing in front of The Angry Birds Movie 2.

Directed by Cherry (executive producer, BlacKkKlansman), Everett Downing Jr. (animator, Up, WALL·E), and Bruce W. Smith (creator, The Proud Family, animator, The Princess and the Frog), Hair Love is a collaboration with Sony Pictures Animation that was launched as a Kickstarter campaign in 2017 with a fundraising goal of $75,000. Strong support led to the campaign amassing nearly $300,000, making it the most highly-funded short film campaign in Kickstarter history.

“To see this project go from a Kickstarter campaign to the big screen is truly a dream come true,” Cherry said. “I couldn’t be more excited for Hair Love to be playing with The Angry Birds Movie 2 in front of a wide audience and for the world to see our touching story about a black father trying to figure out how to do his daughters hair for the very first time.”

Hair Love features the voice of Issa Rae (Insecure) as the young girl’s mother. The short is produced by Cherry, Karen Rupert Toliver, Stacey Newton, Monica A. Young, and Lion Forge Animation’s David Steward II and Carl Reed. Peter Ramsey (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) and Frank Abney (animator, Toy Story 4) serve as executive producers.

“This is such a special story that means so much to us,” Ramsey added. “Matthew has rallied an insanely talented group of people to get this short made, and to be able to share it with the world is a gift. We hope that audiences can feel this team’s dedication up on the big screen, we are incredibly proud of it.”

The short’s co-executive producers include Jordan Peele, Andrew Hawkins, Harrison Barnes, Yara and Keri Shahidi. The short’s associate producers include N’Dambi Gillespie, Gabrielle Union-Wade & Dwayne Wade Jr., Gabourey Sidibe, Stephanie Fredric and Claude Kelly.

Physical production of Hair Love was handled by Los Angeles-based animation studio, Six Point Harness (Guava Island).

The picture book “Hair Love” was released by Kokila Books/Penguin Random House releasing on May 14, 2019 and became a New York Times Bestseller.

In the new sequel to Columbia Pictures and Rovio Animation’s 2016 hit animated comedy, The Angry Birds Movie, the flightless Angry Birds and the scheming green piggies take their beef to the next level. When a new threat emerges that puts both Bird and Pig Island in danger, Red (Jason Sudeikis), Chuck (Josh Gad), Bomb (Danny McBride), and Mighty Eagle (Peter Dinklage) recruit Chuck’s sister Silver (Rachel Bloom) and team up with pigs Leonard (Bill Hader), his assistant Courtney (Awkwafina), and techpig Garry (Sterling K. Brown) to forge an unsteady truce and form an unlikely superteam to save their homes.

The Angry Birds Movie 2 is directed by Thurop Van Orman with a screenplay by Peter Ackerman and Eyel Podell & Jonathon E. Stewart. It is produced by John Cohen, and also stars Leslie Jones, Eugenio Derbez, Zach Woods, Pete Davidson, Dove Cameron, Lil Rel Howery, Beck Bennett, Nicki Minaj, Brooklynn Prince, Maya Rudolph, Tony Hale, JoJo Siwa, Gaten Matarazzo, Colleen Ballinger, and David Dobrik.

Source: Sony Pictures Animation