Matthew A. Cherry's dream project Hair Love became one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns ever launched. It's now a fully fledged animated short film that's playing in theaters everywhere in front of Sony's new sequel, The Angry Birds Movie 2. The journey of Cherry's first animated project began just about two years ago when the initial Kickstarter goal of $75,000 was quickly surpassed, tallying a total of nearly $285,000. In Cherry's own words, "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 color." Now, audiences everywhere will get to see that dream come true on the big screen.

In addition to Cherry, the project also boasts talent like executive producers Peter Ramsey (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) and Frank Abney (Toy Story 4), along with notable backers like Jordan Peele, Gabrielle Union, and Dwyane Wade. It's got a great story behind the scenes and a worthwhile tale to tell in the short itself; expect to hear more about Hair Love when it comes time to talk Oscars predictions.

Be sure to see the short in theaters, but first, check out the clip below:

Here's the official synopsis for Hair Love:

Hair Love, is a 5 minute animated short film that centers around the relationship between an African-American father, Stephen, his daughter, Zuri and her hair. Despite having long locks, Stephen has been used to his wife doing his daughter's hair, so when she is unavailable right before a big event, Stephen will have to figure it out on his own. This sounds simple enough, but we soon come to find that Zuri's hair has a mind of its own.

And for more on how the short came about, be sure to watch this behind-the-scenes video from its Kickstarter campaign:

https://v.kickstarter.com/1565968683_eefee5dc8495a921a2f00ff7ba5cabdc3b5594b3/projects/3005363/video-795695-h264_high.mp4

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Image via Lion Forge Animation, Six Point Harness, Sony