Following the story of Farida and Munira, two women who revolutionised the world of finance in Kuwait, Netflix’s latest Arabic production ‘The Exchange’ offers a women-centric narrative, transporting us back to 1988, during the heyday of the Kuwait Stock Exchange and the eve of Saddam Hussein’s invasion of the country.
The drama was conceived and written by Nadia Ahmad along with Anne and Adam Sobel, directed by Egyptian director Karim Elshenawy and Kuwaiti filmmaker Jasem AlMuhanna and produced by Abdullah Boushahri. The star-studded, all-Kuwaiti cast bringing the story to life on screens across the world includes Rawan Mahdi, Mona Hussain, Mohammed Al Mansour, Faisal Alamiri and Hussain Almahdi.
Inspired by a true story, the series follows the lives of two pioneering women as they navigate the male-dominated, cutthroat Stock Market as it dispels myths about women in finance and examines gender norms in Kuwait during the 1980s.
Nadia Ahmad said in a statement, “I grew up in Kuwait, surrounded by empowered women who were pioneering industries, especially in finance. They demanded to be heard and succeeded, breaking into the workforce and blazing new trails for future generations. ‘The Exchange’ is my love letter to them, bringing an amalgamation of them to life in Farida and Munira in a new and exciting way.”
The series is part of a string of new Arabic content from Netflix set to be released soon, as the global streaming service invests in more Arab storytellers in order to craft stories that can be loved across the world. Across Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Jordan, and Egypt, Netflix is taking big creative swings with different formats and producing fresh content that is new to the Arab world.
Keen on recreating the most accurate depiction of Kuwait in the 1980s, Anne and Adam Sobel said, “‘The Exchange’ is a labor of love, the result of years of collaboration and hard work as we researched the 80s to build the visceral world in an authentic way. From interviews with historians and people who lived through these experiences, to polishing the plotlines, ‘The Exchange’ was a creative rollercoaster and we are so excited to see it launch on Netflix.”
‘The Exchange’ will run for 8-10 episodes and will be available for streaming on Netflix in 190 countries starting on February 8. Find it here.
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