‘Cuties’ Director Maïmouna Doucouré Explains the Reason Behind the Making of the Film

Netflix has released an exclusive interview of Cuties Director Maïmouna Doucouré, where she talks about various aspects of the film from her inspiration behind it and the goal she wants to achieve.

"I had the idea of Cuties when one day during our neighbor Gathering in Paris, a group of very young girls came on stage and they have danced like what we are used to singing in a video clip and I was surprised because of the age, they were only 11 years old," said Maïmouna Doucouré. "So, I decided to spend the next year and started thinking about how do I research? we met 100s of pre-teens who told me their story, I needed to know how they felt about their own feminity in today's society. And how is it dealt with your self-image at a time when social media is so important, how the girls see them all when a woman is overly sexualized on social media and she became most successful in the city, how they just immediately want to see and trying to achieve the same result without understanding the meaning and yeah, it's dangerous."

On the question of what the film's leading character 'Amy' based on, she says "I recreated the girl who I was at that age, How to become a woman was my obsession. I saw so many injustices around me that's women wear experiencing and I kept all of that anger inside me. I was powerless when I was a child. Today I can use my voice my thoughts to share my vision of feminity to fight for women's freedom in society, and in our minds as well. I put my heart into this field because this is my story. I believe that Cinema and out, in general, can change the world."

she also talked about the message she is giving through the film. "Cuties is a deeply feminist film with an activist message. we missed altogether to figure out what is best for our children. As a director, as an artist, I'm doing my part in this film. Politicians, the education system, parents, children, I think all together we have to fix what's gone wrong so we can give the most beautiful space to our girls and boys to grow up safely and become the best version of themself. I hope that people can become 11 years old during an hour and a half of cuties."

'Cuties' is now available to watch on Netflix. Last month, the film garnered a lot of controversies when a trailer and a poster was released. Specifically, the film's poster was accused of sexualizing young girls and was later taken off by Netflix with a formal apology. People even started a petition to remove the film from the streaming platform and accused Netflix of spreading Pedophilia. You can watch the full interview below.