The Exchange
Fall Grants 2020 - Development Stage
Nadia Ahmad / TV Series / Kuwait, Qatar / Original Language: Arabic / Interests: Drama, Based on a True Story, Women Issues
Synopsis
Kuwait. 1988. In two years, the country will be invaded by Iraq, but Farida is currently embroiled in a more personal drama—her bank account is draining fast. Recently divorced, Farida’s already a pariah in her social circle. Now, to support herself and her daughter, Farida must get a job. Farida’s cousin, Muneera, is a trailblazer who works as a clerk on the Kuwait Stock Exchange. Usually an impenetrable boys club, Muneera’s panache sustains her on the trading floor. Farida, desperate to pay her daughter’s private school tuition, turns to Muneera for help. Ever the negotiator, Muneera exploits Farida’s vulnerability by soliciting insider information. But in doing so, she opens the door to a competition with her cousin. Farida outmanoeuvres Muneera and leverages her stock tip into a job for herself on the Exchange. A competition is stoked. Family rivalry fuels their success, and the cousins rise through the ranks of the cutthroat financial world. But their paths diverge when Farida uncovers a network of industry corruption—which Muneera is benefitting from. Farida becomes a whistleblower. Muneera seems headed for jail. And then, Saddam Hussein sets Kuwait’s oil fields alight. Kuwait on the brink threads through Farida and Muneera’s arcs, revealing women struggling to set their country in a new direction while fighting for their own personal freedom.
Credits
- Director
- Nadia Ahmad
- Screenwriter
- Nadia Ahmad, Anne Sobel, Adam Sobel
- Producer
- Nadia Ahmad
About the Director
Nadia Ahmad is a media professional and human rights activist from Kuwait whose work spans four continents. Nadia’s professional experience in the last 15 years intersects broadcast media, theatre, cinema, community development and alternative education. She initiated and launched sustainable development programs in Kenya, Yemen, Lebanon, and Kuwait. Nadia is a co-founder of the LOYAC Academy of Performing Arts (LAPA), the first non-profit arts academy in Kuwait, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2020. She is also a board member and acting director of LOYAC Lebanon. Nadia is best known for her work on TV, having hosted the leading prime time talk show in the Arab world, 'Kalam Nawaem' on MBC 1 for five years.