Streaming giant Netflix has become the leader of the pack in delivering content on its platform from countries from Asia and Europe, such as South Korea, Indonesia, China, Norway, Germany, France, among numerous others. Now, after having tasted spectacular success with its Asian and European content, Netflix has turned its attention to bring compelling content from Middle Eastern countries.
Netflix has been betting big on content from Egypt, UAE and Saudi Arabia, including titles such as ‘Al Rawabi School for Girls’, ‘Drama Queen’, ‘Jinn’ and ‘Farha’. Now, this afternoon, Netflix premiered its first Netflix original content from Kuwait – a series titled ‘The Exchange’. The 6-episode series tells the story of two cousins who became the first women to conduct business in the Kuwaiti Stock Exchange, and the struggle they go through to carve out a place for themselves in the male-dominated industry.
Farida (Rawan Mahdi) is recently divorced, and working hard to provide a good life for her teenaged daughter. Munira (Mona Hussain) is a clerk at the Bank of Tomorrow’s trading division. Both cousins are naturally good at mathematics, and tackle the hectic, cutthroat, misogynistic world of the Kuwait Stock Exchange head on. The show is set in the eighties, before Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait.
‘The Exchange’ is created by Anne Sobel, Adam Sobel and Nadia Ahmad. it is directed by Jasem AlMuhanna and Karim El Shenawy, and produced by Abdullah Boushahri.
The official synopsis of ‘The Exchange’ reads, “Inspired by real events, two women set out to pioneer the cutthroat stock market of 1980s Kuwait — and disrupt its corrupt boys club along the way”.
The Exchange is now streaming on Netflix worldwide. Have a look at the trailer of the series –