How ‘Hair Love’ Studio Lion Forge Is Proving Diversity in Animation Isn’t Just a ‘Flash in the Pan’

When Lion Forge Animation’s debut film “Hair Love” from director Matthew Cherry won the Oscar for Best Animated Short last year, it marked a watershed moment for the studio and for racially diverse representation in the animation industry. Founders Carl Reed and David Steward II of Lion Forge, one of the only Black-owned animation studio in the U.S., immediately wanted to seize on the moment and prove that diverse stories aren’t just a “fad” or “fly-by-nights,” figuring out ways they could use animation to challenge expectations of diversity, perspective and genre. Within weeks, though, the pandemic hit, and Lion Forge was back to square one.