Filmmaker Accuses Malia Obama of Copying Her Sundance Quick

[ad_1] by Jeroslyn JoVonn Could 9, 2025

Malia Obama is being accused of copying an indie fillmmaker when creating her new Nike advertisements for A'Ja Wilson.

Malia Obama’s new Nike advertisements are being known as out by one impartial filmmaker who thinks the previous First Daughter copied components from her 2024 Sundance brief.

Nike tapped Malia, who goes professionally by Malia Ann, to direct two commercials for A’ja Wilson’s debut A’One sneaker. However quickly after the advertisements dropped on Could 3, filmmaker and NYU alum Natalie Jasmine Harris took to X to level out what she believes are putting similarities between Malia’s work and her personal Sundance brief movie GRACE.

Harris made certain to notice that Malia additionally made her Sundance debut final yr with the movie The Coronary heart.

“Been sitting with this for some time,” Harris wrote, alongside stills from her and Malia’s initiatives. “My Sundance brief movie GRACE (shot brilliantly by Tehillah de Castro) was made with deep love and care. The social reduce of the brand new @Nike business directed by Malia Obama (who was additionally at Sundance my yr) feels shockingly much like my work…”

Been sitting with this for some time. My Sundance brief movie GRACE (shot brilliantly by Tehillah de Castro) was made with deep love and care. The social reduce of the brand new @Nike business directed by Malia Obama (who was additionally at Sundance my yr) feels shockingly much like my work… pic.twitter.com/iy2N2krpQN

— Natalie Jasmine Harris (@nataliejharris) Could 6, 2025

Harris ended her assertion with a suggestion for Nike to think about giving alternatives to the impartial filmmakers they could have drawn inspiration from, moderately than prioritizing higher-profile names.

“I do know artwork usually overlaps, however moments like this hit exhausting while you’ve poured your coronary heart into telling tales with care and barely get the popularity you deserve,” she wrote. “If manufacturers desire a sure look, why not rent from the supply as an alternative of for title recognition?”

Malia’s newest work provides to her rising resume, which now features a Sundance brief movie, writing credit on Donald Glover’s Swarm, and a pair of Nike commercials. The A’ja Wilson advertisements honor the WNBA MVP’s upbringing, creatively pairing lyrics about Wilson’s childhood with the melody of the basic nursery rhyme “Miss Mary Mack.”

The advertisements are full of delicate tributes to Wilson’s roots in Columbia, South Carolina, and her basketball journey, that includes scenes shot round her hometown. Cameos embrace her dad and mom, South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Daybreak Staley, who as soon as had her personal signature Nike shoe, a bunch of dancing Benedict Faculty cheerleaders, and a scene inside Saint John Baptist Church, Wilson’s childhood church.