It's a climax in times of coronavirus: the release of a film without a hitch in theaters, but in chaos on a video on demand platform.
Already on the big screen in France,
Mignonnes
, the film by Maïmouna Doucouré, was to be available abroad on Netflix from September 9.
Turkey decided otherwise, by banning its dissemination.
The Turkish Superior Audiovisual Council announced it on September 3, reports
Courrier International
.
Read also: Netflix apologizes after its promotional slippage on the French film
Mignonnes
The award-winning film at the Berlin and Sundance festivals would promote pedophilia and Islamophobia, according to the Turkish press close to power.
Mignonnes
, the director's first feature film, portrays an eleven-year-old Parisian girl, torn between the rules of a polygamous Senegalese family and the tyranny of social networks.
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Believing that the film risked "
exposing children to abuse and compromising their psychological development
", the Turkish Ministry of Family and Social Affairs seized the audiovisual control body.
The body delivered its verdict and banned the broadcast of the feature film.
While Netflix has not reacted to the move, recent precedent suggests that the platform may well comply with the whims of Turkish authorities.
Read also: Turkey: Netflix cancels a series because of a gay character
In July, the streaming giant canceled production of
If Only
, a Turkish series featuring a gay character, after failing to obtain government permission for the filming.
"Because she was staging a gay character, the filming permission was not granted to the series and it is very scary for the future"
, Ece Yörenc, the screenwriter, told the magazine of cultural news
Altyazi Fasikul
.
Controversy in the United States
In August,
Mignonnes
was already at the heart of a controversy despite himself and even before its release.
Netflix has been accused by Internet users of "
hypersexualizing
" children in a visual used to promote the film.
It showed the protagonists, pre-teens, in tight-fitting outfits and in suggestive poses.
A poster very different from the one used in France, on which the same young girls walk in the street throwing confetti.
The official
recap
for the
film, renamed
Cuties
in the US market, was just as dubious in taste as the poster.
“
At 11, Amy became fascinated with a dance troupe practicing twerk.
Hoping to join them, she decides to explore her femininity by defying family traditions,
”explains the synopsis.
Accused of thus promoting pedophilia, the streaming platform made amends.
"
We are deeply sorry for the inappropriate visual we have used for Mignonne / Cuties,
" the platform said on social media.
“
It was neither good nor representative of this French film awarded at the Sundance festival.
We have changed the poster and description
”of the work, Netflix added.