HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Maïmouna Doucouré (; born 1985) is a French filmmaker. She made her feature film directorial debut with '' Cuties'' in 2020 and became a controversial figure globally after the film's international release on
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
. On 8 March 2019 coinciding with the
International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8 as a focal point in the women's rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against wom ...
, she received the Academy Gold Fellowship for Women from the Academy Women's Initiative.


Life and career

Doucouré was born and raised in Paris to parents of Senegalese origin. She grew up in a
polygamous Crimes Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marriage, marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is ...
family with two mothers. Doucouré often visited her grandmother in Senegal as a child during vacations. When asked by an interviewer whether the arts run in her family, she said, "No. My father is a street sweeper, my mother works in a shop.” Her mother discouraged her when she initially shared her aspiration to be a filmmaker. Doucouré graduated with a ''
licence A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
'' in biology from
Pierre and Marie Curie University Pierre and Marie Curie University (french: link=no, Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, UPMC), also known as Paris 6, was a public university, public research university in Paris, France, from 1971 to 2017. The university was located on the Jussi ...
. She created and released her first self-made short film, ''Hide-and-seek'', in 2013. She is married to Sylvain de Zangroniz, also known as Zangro, who is also the producer of most of her films.


''Maman(s)''

In 2015, she produced her second short film, '' Maman(s)'', with the assistance of studio Bien ou Bien Productions and producer Zangro. The short film was critically acclaimed for its screenplay and was premiered at the
2015 Toronto International Film Festival The 40th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 10 to 20 September 2015. On 28 July 2015 the first wave of films to be screened at the Festival was announced. Jean-Marc Vallée's ''Demolition'' starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Naom ...
,
2016 Sundance Film Festival The 2016 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 21 to January 31, 2016. The first lineup of competition films was announced on December 2, 2015. The opening night film was ''Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You'', directed by Heidi Ew ...
and also jointly won the
César Award for Best Short Film The César Award for Best Short Film (french: César du meilleur film de court métrage) is an award presented by the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma since 1992. Winners and nominees 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s See also *Academy ...
at the
42nd César Awards The 42nd César Awards ceremony, presented by the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma, was held on 24 February 2017, at the Salle Pleyel in Paris to honour the best French films of 2016. Jérôme Commandeur hosted the César Awards ceremo ...
in 2017 along with ''Towards Tenderness'' directed by
Alice Diop Alice Diop (b. 1979) is a French filmmaker, who makes films about contemporary French society. Early life and education Born in Aulnay-sous-Bois in 1979, daughter of Senegalese parents, Alice Diop was raised in the Cité des 3000 housing project I ...
. During the 2017 Cesar Award ceremony, she reflected her painful experiences of being a black, Muslim female director while working in a white male dominated film industry.


''Cuties''

She penned the script for her debut feature film '' Cuties'' in early 2017 taking her life experience as a refugee girl into account. The script eventually won the Sundance's Global Filmmaking Award in 2017. The film is based on a traditional Senegalese Muslim girl who is caught and torn between two contrasting fortunes, traditional values and internet culture while also speaking about hypersexualization of preadolescent girls. It premiered in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition sector of 2020 Sundance Film Festival on 23 January 2020 and won the Directing Jury Award praising the script of the film. The film was not deemed controversial when it was premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Doucouré said she "created a climate of trust between the children and myself" during filming. She stated while working on the film, "I explained to them everything I was doing and the research that I had done before I wrote this story. I was also lucky that these girls' parents were also activists, so we were all on the same side. At their age, they've seen this kind of dance. Any child with a telephone can find these images on social media these days." She also stated that she worked with a child psychologist during filming. It was revealed that Doucouré spent nearly 18 months researching studies how young and pre-teen children are being exposed to 18+ adult content and sexualised images on social media in order to showcase the accurate reality in the film. She revealed that approximately 700 girls were auditioned to choose the suitable girl to play the lead role. Despite being critically acclaimed, the film became the subject of public controversy with the release of a promotional poster by Netflix. The social media outrage culminated in a petition claiming it "sexualizes an 11-year-old for the viewing pleasure of paedophiles" attracting 25,000 signatures in less than 24 hours. Doucouré was also targeted directly, receiving multiple death threats, even though the director and Netflix both stated that she had never seen the promotional poster in question, and that any promotion of child sexualization is neither intended nor an accurate representation of the movie. Netflix co-CEO
Ted Sarandos Theodore Anthony Sarandos Jr. is an American businessman who serves as the co-chief executive officer and chief content officer for Netflix. Early life Sarandos was born in Phoenix, Arizona. His father was Ted Sarandos Sr, an electrician, and ...
apologised to Doucouré and the company removed the poster from the platform. In September 2020, in an interview hosted by French organisation UniFrance, she reflected that the film became controversial primarily due to Netflix's selection of artwork. She insisted that she also shares the same spirit and fight against sexualisation of children similar to those who have been criticising the film.


''Hawa''

Her second feature film, '' Hawa'', premiered in the
Platform Prize The Platform Prize is an annual film award, presented by the Toronto International Film Festival to films of "high artistic merit that also demonstrate a strong directorial vision."2022 Toronto International Film Festival The 2022 Toronto International Film Festival, the 47th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, is scheduled to be held from September 8 to 18, 2022. Festival organizers have indicated that the 2022 festival will be staged primar ...
.Jeremy Kay
"Frances O’Connor’s ‘Emily’ to open TIFF Platform alongside films from Maïmouna Doucouré, Rima Das"
''
Screen Daily ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involved in the global film business. ...
'', August 3, 2022.


Untitled Josephine Baker film

In December 2022,
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
announced that Doucouré was working on a film about
Josephine Baker Josephine Baker (born Freda Josephine McDonald; naturalised French Joséphine Baker; 3 June 1906 – 12 April 1975) was an American-born French dancer, singer and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in her adopted Fran ...
, with
Studiocanal StudioCanal S.A.S. (formerly known as Le Studio Canal+, Canal Plus, Canal+ Distribution, Canal+ D.A., Canal+ Production, and Canal+ Image and also known as StudioCanal International) is a French film production and distribution company that owns ...
producing the film.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Doucoure, Maimouna 1985 births 21st-century French women writers Film directors from Paris French people of Senegalese descent French women film directors French women screenwriters Living people Pierre and Marie Curie University alumni Writers from Paris Sundance Film Festival award winners