Malia Obama’s Nike display is part of a bigger problem, says Filmemacher

This sentence is based on a transcribed conversation with Natalie Jasmine Harris, a 27-year-old filmmaker. It was processed for length and clarity. The representatives of Malia Obama, Nike, the advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy and the Iconoclast of the production company did not answer inquiries about comments.

At the beginning of this month, at the Denver Airport on the way home from a TV director -Mentoring program, I scrolled on Instagram when Malia Obama’s Nike display With the basketball star A’ja Wilson appeared on my feed.

At first I was confused and wondered if it was real. It showed two people who played Pat-A-Cake in a way that repeated an early scene from my 14-minute short film “Grace”, a black South Lotic short circuit about a girl who is baptized and questioned her feelings for her best friend.

I met Malia in Sundance in 2024 when “Grace” and her short film “The Heart” were both competition. We saw each other at the brunch of the director and a few other events.

At first I was disappointed and injured – not only for myself, but for my entire team. I sent the commercial to friends who had the same reaction as I was. One put together a shot-by-shot photo equoom.

Since I posted the problem online, there have been many people who didn’t understand my disappointment. You like “You didn’t invent Pat-A-Cake.” And that’s very true. But it’s not about the game, but about the cinematic tools that represent it to present it.

My cameraman Tehillah de Castro noticed many similarities from a technical point of view, from the camera hinges to the shots to the frame composition and the color palette.

Over time, I have transformed this initial shock into a deeper frustration about how often instances are very common – and have to change.

It speaks for a larger edition of brands that support independent artists and choose people who already have name recognition who do not breed innovative films or original stories. If you wanted these recordings that were similar to my recordings, why not hire the direction?

The route that used to work for the Spike Lees and Steven Spielbergs of the World feels less profitable today. If we are continuously overlooked, how will the next generation of filmmakers exist?

Despite an early success, it was a fight to be a young director

I knew that I wanted to be a director at a young age.

I started doing documentaries about social justice during the Black Lives Matt movement in the high school. Many of my work focuses on the experiences, black women and queer stories things that are personal for me.

Despite the end of New York University in 2020 at the peak of pandemic, I have had a lot of success so far. My thesis film “Pure” was bought shortly after I graduated from HBO and won the DGA Student Film Award. I also won a competition to lead a commercial for Hyundai and make a commercial for Verizon.

“Grace” is not only Sundance in 2024, but also a Vimeo employee and will be the criterion in June.

Nevertheless, it was a fight to be a young director. Festivals are great, but they don’t pay the bills. I have taken on other full-time and freelance jobs.

At the moment I am working on my first function that I have spent in writing and pitching in recent years.

But I often came across roadblocks with production companies and financiers, in so many words that nobody wants to be the first person to bet on me – combined with the fact that I am young and have no established name.

I want there are recognition

I haven’t heard of Malia Obama or Nike since it was pronounced, but I want there to be recognition.

I initially hesitated to comment because it was a former daughter of a former president and a beloved brand like Nike. It was also difficult to criticize something that participates in the WNBA because it means a lot to me personally and already gets such a lack of headlights.

But I poured too much into my work to just put over and watch.

Sometimes it can feel like filmmaking should be a hobby for the rich than something that can actually be a career.

But I don’t want to give up. I have a beautiful community of friends, family and colleagues who fight the same fight, and that is hope. I still have a lot of stories that I want to tell. And one day I want to be a name.