Malia Obama (sorry, Malia Ann) is premiering her first film at Sundance
Malia Obama's Sundance-approved short feature was produced by Donald Glover's company Gilga
Aux News Malia
Hollywood’s various and sundry nepo babies choose to approach their status in a variety of ways. Some embrace their Hollywood heritage, while others will distance themselves from their parents or try to obscure their famous relations. Malia Obama, for instance, is apparently dropping the “Obama” for her Sundance Film Festival debut, instead presenting her short film under the moniker “Malia Ann.” Of course, no name change is going to hide the fact that she’s the daughter of former president Barack Obama, but this is nevertheless her prerogative as an artist!
If you’re curious, Malia’s movie is called The Heart, which is “an odd little story, somewhat of a fable, about a man grieving the death of his mother after she leaves him an unusual request in her will,” she says in a Sundance “Meet the Artist” segment. “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 goes on to say. “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’s most recent credit was working in the writers room on Donald Glover’s Prime Video series Swarm. The Heart was one of the first projects under Glover’s recently-launched production company, Gilga. Speaking with GQ last year, Glover revealed the advice he gave the former First Daughter on her first film: “The first thing we did was talk about the fact that she will only get to do this once. You’re Obama’s daughter. So if you make a bad film, it will follow you around.”
Before becoming a Donald Glover protégé, Malia began her entertainment career as an intern at The Weinstein Company and worked on the set of Girls; she later served as a production assistant on the Halle Berry series Extant. Girls creator Lena Dunham, Swarm showrunner Janine Nabers, and Berry all had positive things to say about working with Malia, noting that she was smart, talented, and an enthusiastic worker. However, while Berry said in 2017 (via Refinery29) that she “had wild respect” for Malia’s work ethic, “everybody couldn’t really see her as a PA although she tried and tried to be one, we just couldn’t really see her as one. But to her credit, she tried very hard to be one.” Now that she’s older and going by Malia Ann, perhaps those industry folks will be better able to see her as a writer-director in her own right.
44 Comments
You’re Obama’s daughter. So if you make a bad film, it will follow you around.”True. But also, she’s Obama daughter. Film marketing is covered. Forever.
Right, that honestly seemed backwards to me. You’re Obama’s daughter—everyone will want to be associated with you no matter how many bad films you make.No shade to her, that just seemed like false advice, though good on him encouraging her to make sure her film is quality, which I’m sure she was trying to do anyway.
Plus she was taught by Hollywood genius, Harvey Weinstein, which is pretty impressive.
What a bitterly-written article. I thought we were over the whole “nepo baby” bullshit. She seems like a decent young woman willing to work hard and pay her dues regardless of the her name. There are plenty of privileged asshole kids with famous parents out there, and she doesn’t seem to be one of them.
It’s the fucking AVClub, what can we expect at this point. The AVClub is FAR different than the days of the print version (I was on campus at UW-Milawukee in the late 90s). And also quite different from even 10 years ago. Mary is *probably* worse than Barsanti as she spreads her ineptitude all over the place
Depends. Was she one of the ones defending Will Smith? There was some roundtable about that, if I remember.
LOL what dues has she paid?
LOL what dues has she paid?I found this in a recent article on The A.V. Club, you should check it out:https://www.avclub.com/malia-obama-first-film-sundance-donald-glover-1851180233Malia began her entertainment career as an intern at The Weinstein Company and worked on the set of Girls; she later served as a production assistant on the Halle Berry series Extant.
Oh wow, Mom and Dad were best friends with a rapist and got her an internship. Talk about paying your dues…
Neat so what you’re saying is that every PA on that set was also the child of friends of rapists?
Or are you just trying to be a dipshit edgelord?
Nope, I’m saying specifically her Mom and Dad were best friends with a rapist (well documented how close of friends they were).
Yes, and you were also saying that is somehow not “paying her dues,” thus implying that every other PA is the child of friends of rapists.
You’re not very clever.
Dude get out of fantasy land. You think her parents being best friends with Weinstein didn’t get her the job? Get real. She didn’t pay her dues any more than she paid her college tuition.
Please provide a concise list of the connections of everyone else on that set.3
Why, the article is about 1 person? I do know that every other single person on that set isn’t the daughter of an ex-President and First Lady who were close friends with a convicted rapist.
I’d say you must be fun at parties, but I doubt you’re ever invited to any.
LOL what dues has she paid? Oh wow, Mom and Dad were best friends with a rapist and got her an internship. Talk about paying your dues…I do know that every other single person on that set isn’t the daughter
of an ex-President and First Lady who were close friends with a
convicted rapist.
You are literally implying that working on a movie set means your parents are friends with a rapist. You can try to pretend you’re not saying that, but you are, because you’re a dipshit with an axe to grind, and you are taking it out on someone’s kid.
The fact that you don’t know that the Obama’s were close personal friends of Weinstein Is comical. Its public knowledge dipshit, look It up. They commented publicly on how “great a friend he Is” to them. You’re so stupid Its honestly hilarious watching you try to come up with a straw man argument here. Its all facts dipshit, I hate to break It to you but It Is. So kindly fuck off.
The fact that you don’t know that the Obama’s were close personal friends of Weinstein Is comical. The fact that you think this is in any way relevant is comical. Jesus Christ you’re an idiot.
lol Obama was friends with a Raping Harvey Weinstein and you defend it. Fucking loser. Obama would laugh as Harvey raped every woman you loved you stupid piece of shit.
lol You really made these shitty Obama fans mad by stating facts about Barack and his rapist pal, Harvey.
It’s honestly sad how much they defend him no matter how shitty of a human being he is.
This place is infested with the dumbest, most racist libs. They have no moral compass or core beliefs. They are just a bunch of losers who thinks politics is sportsball.
You coule always go back to Breitbart.
Oh stfu. You are defending the definition of a nepo baby. Famous parents are best friends with at the time the most powerful man In Hollywood and she just happens to get her start at his production company? Do you have any clue as to how many kids fight to get a job at those production companies? FFS she couldn’t be any more of a NEPO BABY. Tuition paid for at school, parents worth hundreds of millions, and came straight out of school Into what most kids have to work years for. OH wait, and parents own, wait for it, a film production company? But yeah, she really paid her dues. God how you be so delusional? Oh right, becuase you live In fantasy land. Bye!
Since he can’t go back and be racist at The Root, he might have to spend his days licking windows at Breathbarf.
lol Shut up retard. Go defend drone strikes you fucking idiot.
Time to move on, Bernout.
She worked for Harvey Weinstein.
Yeah, it’s not like she jumped straight to being a producer or cinematographer. She was an intern and then a PA then a writer. I mean, that’s the same track my niece is taking and she’s not a president’s daughter.
I don’t think there’s an article without her relationship to the ex president. There isn’t much coverage, or clickable stat meeting wins about an article just about short films.
It just feels reminiscent of the “high eight-figure” deal that her parents signed with Netflix despite zero experience in the entertainment industry.
No talent ugly nepo baby uses her parents to get an opportunity to do something she doesn’t deserve. Disgusting what happens when your father is a corrupt politician who uses his political office to enrich himself by helping Wall Street and the military industrial complex. USA is an evil, rotten, nation run by genocidal maniacs.
Damm she is busted.
Hey, Mary, I don’t know if people say this enough, but go fuck yourself.
That kind of meanness to defend the president’s kid?
In response to that kind of meanness to attack a president’s kid?
Rush Limbaugh is a rotting corpse right now, no need to dig him up.
I feel like telling someone to eff themselves when a nepo kid is criticized is more in the spirit of mean spirited right wing talking point radio
This article reads like a hit piece simply because of who her parents are, so yeah.
Obama was friends with Harvey Weinstein and you love that about him. I hope someone beats you to death.
We must always bend the knee to power.
her parents are horrible people and she only gets to make this film because of who they are. seems relevant.
No one has ever made a film without having horrible parents, got it.
Unlike her father, she hasn’t murdered anyone, so I’m gonna be nice and just not care.
You whiners in the comments getting mad over people giving a grown woman shit for riding the gravy train to Bullshitville as a life goal crack me up. Of course she’s a shallow spoiled child of privilege with no talent worth speaking of. Not a child. Not someone who “paid dues” or “put in the work”. Someone who got a free pass in Monopoly because Daddy did a good enough job shilling for neo-liberal corporate interests that he gets an honorary membership in the Billionaire Boys Club. But hey, she doesn’t have it all her way. Some people are born into money, fame and beauty but she clearly didn’t hit the trifecta on that one.