Malia Obama Makes Rare Red Carpet Appearance: ‘A Little Bit Terrified’

Malia Obama is making a rare red carpet appearance.

On Friday, Sept. 6, the eldest daughter of former U.S. President Barack and his wife Michelle Obama attended the 50th annual Deauville American Film Festival in France, where she presented her short film and directorial debut The Heart.

It was a new setting for Malia, 26, who was honored with the Young Spirit award at the festival, and she admitted she wasn’t used to life on the red carpet while speaking at the event.

“I’m so excited. I mean, I’ve never done anything like this … so of course [I’m] a little bit terrified, but mostly just excited,” the filmmaker told Paris Match in a clip shared to TikTok.

For the outing, Malia wore a mismatched plaid Vivienne Westwood ensemble which consisted of a blue and white layered skirt and a red and black off-the-shoulder corset-style top.

Malia told Paris Match of her look, “Vivienne Westwood, Queen.”

“It’s cool,” she added. “I don’t know as much about fashion, but I’m happy to be wearing it.”

Malia created her film The Heart under the name Malia Ann (Ann is her middle name).

Per a synopsis, The Heart — which is 18 minutes long — tells the story of, “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 Deauville American Film Festival’s website.

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Another message on the festival’s site added, “For this 50th anniver­sary edi­tion, the Deauville Amer­i­can Film Fes­ti­val want­ed to cel­e­brate the new fig­ures of tomor­row’s cin­e­ma, by award­ing a prize to an emerg­ing tal­ent, spe­cial­ly cre­at­ed for the event.” 

“In this excep­tion­al year, the Young Spir­it Award goes to direc­tor Malia Ann, in her pres­ence, for her first short film, The Heart,” it continued.

Malia’s latest appearance comes after The Heart was screened as part of the U.S. short fiction films at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival in January.

While being interviewed by the film festival in a segment called “Meet The Artist” at the time, Malia explained of the project, “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 these things.”

“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,” she added in the YouTube clip.

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Malia previously worked as a writer on the Prime Video thriller series Swarm. 

During an interview with Entertainment Tonight in March 2023, Janine Nabers, who was a showrunner on the set, said that Harvard-educated Malia was an “incredible writer” who “brought a lot to the table.”

“She’s really, really dedicated to her craft,” Nabers told the outlet.