A little girl, Zuri, bounds out of bed, excited to get ready for a very special visit. She wants to make sure her hair is perfect, just like her mom taught her. But, things donât go exactly as planned.
Enter Dad. Will he be able to transform Zuriâs voluminous hair into the style sheâs longing for?
To find out, youâll need to watch âHair Love,â the wonderful animated short that won an Oscar Sunday for Best Animated Short Film. The film has a Canadian connection: Vancouverâs Pearl Low worked on the project as a story artist, and helped bring Zuri and her Black-hair story to life.
Low literally drew on her own experience as a Chinese-Jamaican Canadian kid growing up with a Chinese single mom who didnât know how to handle curly hair, just like Zuriâs dad.
âThere are a lot of parallels in the story and in my life,â Low told HuffPost Canada. âWhile watching the [finished] film I was like, âAww thatâs me!ââ
Low and her mom went through a period of experimentation to figure out what worked for Pearlâs hair. But it wasnât until she connected with other family members who shared their experiences with their own Black hair that things clicked.
âI would say to my younger self, âYour hairâs not a problem, and it doesnât need fixing,â said the illustrator and author. âYou just need to learn about it, and this is who you are, and itâs OK. Itâs great, actually.ââ
Lowâs self-published comic about her own hair, âTension,â led to a referral for work on âHair Love.â She hopes the short film will help people understand what Black family life is really like.
âI want people to take away from the film that Black interactions, Black family dynamics like that are normal. That Black fathers involved with their daughters is a normal thing too, and quite common.â
Hear more from Pearl Low in our video above, and watch the full animated short, âHair Love,â below.