The director of the controversial Netflix show, "Cuties" on Monday defended her film amid calls to cancel it because of claims it hypersexualizes young women.
"I thought the film would be accepted," Doucouré said. "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. 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."
"We need to protect our children. What I want to is to open people's eyes on this issue and try to fix it," said the filmmaker, adding it is "important and necessary to create a debate and find solutions as filmmakers, politicians, and within the educational system."
"Cuties" is the story of an 11-year-old Senegalese girl in Paris who joins a dance group to escape family dysfunction. The movie's original poster shows the main character transforming the film's first impression for many American viewers.
Doucouré told Variety the controversy "started with the artwork."
"The most important [thing] is to watch the film and understand we have the same fight," she said.
Netflix later apologized and withdrew the artwork.
"Netflix has apologized to the public and to myself," she said of the poster controversy.
"In this particular instance, it was difficult, because we had to do things quickly. I didn't see the poster that Netflix came out with before it premiered. Next time, I will see the poster, and we'll communicate better."
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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