The Director Behind ‘Cuties’ Says She is Fighting the ‘Same Fight’

 

Maïmouna Doucouré, the director behind the controversial movie Cuties, wants you all to know that she is battling the same fight as her critics.

Recall that the movie stirred heated conversation because of the way it hypersexualized small children. Many people called out Netflix for having it on their platform, and folks even began to cancel their subscription, drawing global conversation about the movie.

But the director of the movie, Doucouré, says the movie spotlights many issues that have been continually ignored, and that Cuties aims to spur social change. “It’s because I saw so many things and so many issues around me lived by young girls, that I decided to make this film and sound an alarm and say, ‘We need to protect our children,’” she said during a TIFF panel on French filmmakers Monday, per The Hollywood Reporter.

“It’s bold, its feminist, but it’s so important and necessary to create debate and try to find solutions, for me as an artist, for politicians and parents. It’s a real issue,” she added. “The controversy started with that artwork… The most important [thing] is to watch the film and understand we have the same fight.”

Complex adds that Netflix apologised to Doucouré for their artwork and defended Cuties as being “social commentary against the sexualization of young children.”

The streaming giant called it “an award winning film and a powerful story about the pressure young girls face on social media and from society more generally growing up,” and encouraged “anyone who cares about these important issues to watch the movie.”