'Cuties' Director Maimouna Doucouré Responds To The Backlash Over The Netflix Movie

Maimouna Doucouré is speaking out following the massive backlash her movie, Cuties, is getting.

The movie centers on an 11-year-old Senegalese girl in Paris who joins a dance group to escape family dysfunction.

The backlash started after Netflix debuted its key art and a first look at the movie, pointing out the suggestive choreography in the dance group.

“The controversy started with that artwork… The most important [thing] is to watch the film and understand we have the same fight,” Maimouna shared during a virtual panel discussing the movie.

She added that she “thought the film would be accepted” despite the differences between European and American cultures.

“It played to Sundance and was watched by American people there; I met the public there and they really saw that the film is about a universal issue,” she continued. “It’s not about French society — the hyper-sexualization of children happens through social media and social media is everywhere. People [at Sundance] agreed with that.”

Maimouna adds that she wants to “open people’s eyes on this issue and try to fix it” and it’s “important and necessary to create a debate and find solutions as filmmakers, politicians, and within the educational system.”

Netflix previously responded to the backlash about the movie as well, saying that the movie is actually against the sexualization of children. See what they said here…