Just call her Malia Ann.
Malia Obama appeared on the red carpet for her short film “The Heart” at the Sundance Film Festival Thursday ― but under the credited name of Malia Ann. That’s her first and middle name.
“The Heart” was shown at the Telluride and Chicago festivals, where she was also credited as Malia Ann in the programs. Teen Vogue noted that she is now “known artistically” as Malia Ann.
The 25-year-old Obama, the eldest daughter of former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, told viewers in a preview video (watch it below) that her movie is an “odd little story.”
“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,” Obama said in the clip, which was posted before the movie screened in Park City, Utah.
“The Heart,” which Obama wrote and directed, is about a lonely man who “grieves the death of his mother after an argument about groceries and an odd request in her will,” according to the festival program description.
It is scheduled to screen several more times in a block of shorts that premiered with hers.
In the YouTube clip, she said the people who helped her make the movie “have my heart ― pun intended.”
The Harvard grad previously wrote for Prime Video’s “Swarm.” While she was working with the series’ co-creator, Donald Glover, he warned her about the pitfalls of making her first film.
“The first thing we did was talk about the fact that she will only get to do this once,” Glover told GQ . “You’re Obama’s daughter. So if you make a bad film, it will follow you around.”