“Hair Love” director Matthew A. Cherry brought a special guest to the Oscars red carpet — Deandre Arnold, a Texas high school student who was told he couldn’t attend graduation unless he cut his dreadlocks. Cherry and co-producer Karen Rupert Toliver took home the Oscar for Best Animated Short.

Stories like this, which are increasingly common, are why the Oscar-nominated animated short “Hair Love” is so celebrated within the black community. The film was created to promote more onscreen diversity and hair love among young men and women of color.