Watch Oscar-Winning “Hair Love” Right Now, And See More Shorts at the Detroit Film Theatre

Matthew Cherry and Karen Rupert Toliver’s short “Hair Love” won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short. Watch the film below.

There’s something magnetic about the art of the short film. 

Elliot Wilhelm, director of the Detroit Film Theatre accredits this fascination to the creative freedom within the making process. 

“It’s become a ritual for Detroiters who love to come and see them on the big screen.” – Elliot Wilhelm, Detroit Film Theatre

“Short films are made without really taking commercial value into consideration when the films are made,” Wilhelm says.  “[Emerging filmmakers] are making films because they feel passionately about something. With live action shorts and documentary shorts, they tend to gravitate toward serious themes that feature lengths may not even touch.”


Click the player above to hear DFT’s Elliott Wilhelm talk about this year’s Oscar Shorts program.   


With the 2020 Oscars in our rearview yet still piquing viewer interest with films being added to various “must-watch” lists, the Detroit Film Theatre is hosting its annual Oscar Shorts program where moviegoers can immerse themselves in three-hours of cinema. The evening includes animation, live and documentary-style films. 

“It’s become a ritual for Detroiters who love to come and see them on the big screen and this year in particular, there are some real visual delicacies that I don’t think will translate to a smaller screen all that well,” Wilhelm teases. 

A stand-out winner among this year’s Best Animated Short category was Matthew Cherry’s “Hair Love.”

The football player-turned-filmmaker collaborated with producer Karen Rupert Toliver to illustrate a delicate story of a father learning how to do his daughter’s hair. Watch it below. 

The Oscar-nominated shorts are showing at the Detroit Film Theatre through Feb. 16. Find tickets here. 

Post Written by LaToya Cross 

Audio Interview by Ryan Patrick Hooper

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