Malia Obama Makes Rare Public Appearance at ‘The Heart’ Screening as She Makes Her Sundance Debut

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Image Credit: Robin Marshall/Shutterstock for Sundance

Malia Obama has become a Hollywood girlie! The former president’s 25-year-old daughter made a rare public appearance at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah on January 18 where she debuted her new short film, The Heart. Malia walked the red carpet for the first time in her life, and she looked fabulous in a cozy gray coat with a blue button-up shirt and black jeans. Malia also rocked a grey scarf that was wrapped around her neck and a pair of chic brown boots.

Malia wrote and directed her short film under the name Malia Ann. The Heart is about a grieving son, whose mother left him an unusual request in her will, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Malia gave more insight into the project in a segment for Sundance called “Meet The Artist.”

“The film is about lost objects and lonely people and forgiveness and regret, but I also think it works hard to uncover where tenderness and closeness can exist in those things,” she said in the clip. “We hope you enjoy the film and it makes you feel a bit less lonely, or at least reminds you not to forget about the people who are.”

Malia Obama at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival (Photo: Robin Marshall/Shutterstock for Sundance)

Barack Obama and Michelle Obama‘s eldest daughter graduated from Harvard in 2021 and has been working in the movie business. She was a writer on the 2023 Prime Video series Swarm starring Dominique Fishback. Showrunner Janine Nabers told Entertainment Tonight about Malia’s contributions to the horror thriller series in an interview last March.

“Some of her pitches were wild as hell, and they were just so good and so funny,” Janine said. “She’s an incredible writer. She brought a lot to the table… She’s really, really dedicated to her craft.”

Donald Glover, who co-created the series with Janine, also opened up about working with Malia, calling her an “amazingly talented person” in a March 2022 interview with Vanity Fair. “She’s really focused, and she’s working really hard,” he said at the time. “I feel like she’s just somebody who’s gonna have really good things coming soon.”

Malia is the older of Barack and Michelle’s two daughters. The former president and first lady also have a younger daughter, Sasha, 22.