*French filmmaker Maïmouna Doucouré is speaking out about the controversy Netflix created over its disastrous U.S. poster for her film “Cuties.”
We previously reported… Netflix apologized last month after its marketing of the film was met with backlash online after many noted that the poster sexualizes children (see above).
The critically-acclaimed pic, which won the World Cinema Dramatic Directing Award at Sundance this year, follows Amy, an 11-year-old girl who joins a group of dancers named “The Cuties” at school and soon becomes aware of her burgeoning femininity — upsetting her mother and her values.
Netflix recently began promoting the September 9 release, with many on Twitter calling it “disgusting.”
READ MORE: ‘Cuties’: The Film That Has Netflix Apologizing for its Poster ‘Sexualizing Children’ (Trailer)
Netflix took down the offending artwork and said in a statement: “We’re deeply sorry for the inappropriate artwork that we used for Cuties. It was not OK, nor was it representative of this French film which premiered at Sundance. We’ve now updated the pictures and description.”
But the damage was already done. Doucouré says she received death threats over the poster.
“I received numerous attacks on my character from people who had not seen the film, who thought I was actually making a film that was apologetic about hypersexualization of children,” she told Deadline. “I also received numerous death threats.”
Doucouré explained that she hadn’t seen the poster before Netflix debuted it online.
“Things happened fairly quickly because, after the delays [due to the pandemic], I was completely concentrating on the film’s release in France. I discovered the poster as the same time as the American public,” she told Deadline. “My reaction? It was a strange experience. I hadn’t seen the poster until after I started getting all these reactions on social media, direct messages from people, attacks on me. I didn’t understand what was going on. That was when I went and saw what the poster looked like.”
Doucouré added that Netflix’s original artwork was “not representative of the film and especially its message.” She also explained that the streaming giant apologized to her.
“We had several discussions back and forth after this happened. Netflix apologized publicly, and also personally to me,” she said.
Watch the trailer for “Cuties” below.
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