Top 150 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2020: #90. Cuties – Maïmouna Doucouré

Cuties

Winner of the Global Filmmaking Award at the Sundance Film Festival in 2017 for the screenplay of her first feature Cuties (Mignonnes), Maïmouna Doucouré reteamed with producer Bien ou Bien Productions Sylvain De Zangroniz for a debut that pit non-professionals with actress Maïmouna Gueye (of Rachid Bouchareb’s Belleville Cop, 2018). Doucouré won both a César, a Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and Best International Short at TIFF for her 2015 short film, Maman(s). Doucoure’s cast includes Fathia Youssouf, Medina El Aidi-Azouni, Esther Gohourou, Ilanah Cami-Goursolas, Myriam Hamma and Maimouna Gueye. Netflix landed the title.

Gist: Co-written by Alice Winocour, Nathalie Saugeon and Valentine Milville, pre-teenager Amy discovers in her new elementary school a group of dancers called “Cuties”. Fascinated, she begins a sexy dance, the twerk, hoping to join their band and escape a family upheaval.

Release Date/Prediction: Cuties has been selected to compete at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Dramatic competition. It was then selected for the Generation Kplus section at the Berlin.