Ruth Mia Davis
Netflix has made business move after business move. At this rate, we won’t be seeing the streaming giant falter anytime soon. This time, the streamer will be tapping into the Middle East for their very first Egyptian television series in Paranormal.
The series is based on Ahmed Khaled Tawfik’s books which are about a doctor whose dedication to science has been swept to the knees after his convictions are called into question. Being one of the biggest novels to ever exist in the Middle East with over 15 million copies sold, this is a good first step for the streaming giant.
Ahmed Sharkaw, director of Arabic and African original series at Netflix, said that their plant is to “invest in Arab creators, in Arab production, in Arab content. We have announced four projects, plus ‘Paranormal.”
The story revolves around Dr. Refaat Ismail and his dark wit. His solid convictions about the world are put into question when he begins to experience the paranormal.
“This is one of my life’s projects. I loved (the novels) since I was a kid … We’ve been trying to get (a series) out since 2006, so finally, it has been shown to the audience,” said Amr Salama who will be working alongside Mohamed Hefzy as co-producer.
Egypt has had quite a history of Arabic films and TV series to which, impressively, have reached millions of people across the region. With this, they are dubbed easily as the “Hollywood of the Middle East.”
“We are on a global platform… so this is an opportunity that is different from any other opportunity we’ve worked on. We can now have fans from other regions, other countries, who speak other languages,” said Ahmed Amin who plays the show’s protagonist, Dr. Ismail.
Hopefully, this is the start of something beautiful for the platform––considering they will be aiming for more productions in 2021 than that in the 2020s. International series has been hit or miss for the streaming giant, but Netflix has more than enough space to experiment with different genres from different regions.
