Malia Obama, the former first daughter made her festival debut on the red carpet of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, on Thursday with the premiere of her short film “The Heart.”
The subject of this short film written and directed by Malia Obama follows the story of a man mourning the loss of his mother after receiving a “unusual” request from her in her will.
She describes the film as an “odd little story, somewhat of a fable” in a ‘meet the artist’ clip from the Sundance Institute on YouTube.
Malia’s voice can be heard in the footage saying, “I think it works hard to uncover where tenderness and closeness can exist in these things. The film is about lost objects, lonely people, forgiveness, and regret.”
Later on, she said, “We hope you enjoy the movie and that it helps you feel a little less alone.”
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Making movies is undoubtedly a highly regarded endeavor in the Obama family.
In 2018, Malia Obama’s parents signed a development agreement between Higher Ground Productions, their company, and Netflix. This agreement resulted in a number of projects, including the thriller Leave the World Behind, which starred Mahershala Ali and Julia Roberts, and the documentary Working: What We Do All Day, which earned Barack Obama his second Creative Arts Emmy for best narrator earlier this month.
The Heart will be screened in the Short Film Program 1 at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.