Cuties

Update: Maïmouna Doucouré is no longer able to attend in person on March 10, but we’re delighted to share that she has recorded an introduction exclusively for Rendez-Vous with French Cinema audiences. See more details here.

Shy 11-year-old Amy (Fathia Youssouf Abdillahi) becomes fascinated by her self-possessed neighbor Anjelica when she spots her dancing in their apartment building’s laundry room. So when Amy discovers that Anjelica is part of a hip-hop dance troupe, the “Cuties,” she tries her best to fit in with the group, already deep in training for a local competition. Amy masters the routine, but her newfound talents conflict with her family’s traditional expectations for the woman she should become; meanwhile her mother anxiously awaits her father’s return from Senegal with his second wife. Maïmouna Doucouré’s vibrant debut feature, which screened at both Sundance and the Berlin Film Festival, is exceptionally attuned to the internal yearnings and external pressures of adolescence. A Netflix release.