The film Snyggingar is about 11-year-old Amy who is tired of taking care of her siblings and accompanying her mother to prayer meetings.
When she discovers that some girls of the same age at school have a dance group, she wants nothing better than to be allowed to join.
"The film tries to show that children should have time to be children and that we adults should protect them and let them be innocent for as long as possible," director Maïmouna Doucouré told Time a few days before the Netflix premiere.
Netflix has apologized
Ordinarily, a French coming-of-age film about growing up as a second-generation Senegalese immigrant in France might not get so much attention in the United States that the hashtag #CancelNetflix would be the most trending topic at the premiere.
Turkey has got the streaming service to remove the film in the country.
Because Netflix in August chose to launch the film with four girls in challenging poses, many were made to consider the film "is like a gift for pedophiles".
Since then, Netflix has apologized for the image choice, but the dissatisfaction has continued and culminated shortly after the film's premiere on September 9, in connection with a dance scene that is perceived as sexualizing has spread widely on social media.
"We are on the same page"
Maïmouna Doucouré emphasizes that it is precisely the oversexualisation of children, fueled by lay hunting on social media, is what she wanted to portray and hopes that her loudest critics actually see the film.
- I just hope that these people see the film, because then they would understand that we are on the same side in the fight against the hypersexualization of children, she said Time.