Cuties, originally titled Mignonnes, is a French teen coming-of-age comedy drama film written and directed by Maïmouna Doucouré. The film is about a traditional Senegalese Muslim girl who is caught between traditional family values and the escape provided by dance and highly influenced by the rising Internet culture.
The film was premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and features Fathia Youssouf, Médina El Aidi-Azouni and Maïmouna Gueye in lead roles.
Netflix issued an apology on Thursday after thousands signed a petition demanding the immediate removal of the controversial French film “Cuties” from the streaming platform. People called out Netflix to completely scrape off the film.
On social media, people are calling the Netflix’s made poster of the movie, “disgusting,” “upsetting” and “sick.” The poster shows four pre-teen stars posing in costumes baring their legs and midriffs.
Netflix has apologized for using such promotional material but did not announce any plans of scrapping the movie completely.
Netflix apologized through their Twitter account saying, “We’re deeply sorry for the inappropriate artwork that we used for Mignonnes/Cuties,” Netflix said in a statement Thursday morning. “It was not OK, nor was it representative of this French film which won an award at Sundance. We’ve now updated the pictures and description.”
The film follows an 11-year old girl joining a dance group, debuted with a poster that displayed its name along with suggestive dance sequences which triggered a lot of outrage all over the internet. A petition claiming it “sexualizes an 11-year-old for the viewing pleasure of pedophiles” attracted 25,000 signatures in less than 24 hours, according to a BBC report.
The Change.org campaign to delete the title had amassed more than 49,000 signatures as of Thursday morning
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