Netflix is a famous online streaming service that offers popular movies, TV shows, and documentaries that users can watch over the internet. It has over 100 million members across 190 countries.
Netflix has become people’s favorite pastime, offering them a wide range of shows from all genres.
Now if you go on Netflix and type “Lebanese”, the first four results you get are must-see shows and movies of Lebanese production.
1. Al Hayba
Al Hayba is a Lebanese drama television series directed by Samer Barqawi and starring Syrian Taim Hasan and Lebanese Nadine Nassib Njeim. It was released during the month of Ramadan 2017. The show is created by Sabbah Brothers (Cedars Art Production).
Plot: “Al Hayba” is an area located on the borders between Syria and Lebanon. Jabal (Taim Hassan) and his Sheikh El Jabal clan control arms trading and smuggling at the borders.
Jabal and his family lead a modern lifestyle, yet, he relies still on the traditional customs of the clan to solve conflicts and to affirm his authority.
The family receives the news of the death of their son Adel who fled to France more than 15 years ago because of a vendetta. They hadn’t received any news from him for the past 10 years, and there he comes back now as a lifeless corpse, accompanied by his wife (Nadine Nassib Njeim) and only son who he named after his brother Jabal.
2. Shi Yom Rah Fell
“One Day I’ll Run Away” is a Lebanese Social Drama which depicts how corrupt we become when our lives revolve around buying our happiness and those around us with money.
Written and directed by Layal Rajha, starring Adel Karam, Elham Abi Rached, Joy Karam, Lorraine Kodeih, and Pierre Dagher.
Plot: After serving his sentence in Carandiru, one of the world’s most vicious prisons, Tarek (Adel Karam) sets out to create a new life for himself in Brazil – A life like any normal person. Yet something within him was not satisfied. An urge to finish what is not yet complete drives him back to Lebanon.
It was time for him to get back what he believed belonged to him from Mazen (Pierre Dagher) when coincidence unites him with three different women, each escaping her own reality.
His plan starts to change directions as he finds satisfaction for his different needs with each of Sariah (Lorraine Kodeih), Tonie-Maria (Joy Karam) and Elham (Elham Abi Rached).
3. Bighamdet Ein
“In The Blink Of An Eye” is a Lebanese comedy action movie by director Seif Sheikh Najib starring Ziad Bourji, Hicham Haddad, Dana Halabi, Hiba Dagher, Elias Zayek and Abbas Jaafar.
Plot: For years, agriculture engineer Jad (Ziad Bourji) has awaited promotion to project manager of a green project but his boss gives the job to his Canadian niece, Nour (Hiba Dagher), who makes Jad her assistant. Jad wants to hate Nour but she is really attractive. What to do?
4. Very Big Shot
“Film Kteer Kbeer” is from director Mir-Jean Bou Chaaya. It stars Alain Saadeh, Fouad Yammine, Wissam Fares and Alexandra Kahwagi.
Plot: Intending to smuggle drugs across the borders, a small-time Lebanese drug-dealer slyly manipulates public opinion with the help of an underrated filmmaker.
5. Adel Karam – Live From Beirut
AK47 is the first Middle Eastern Netflix production. It is a stand-up comedy show with famous Lebanese comedian Adel Karam. The title has a double meaning: first, it refers to the war weapon. Second, A and K are the initials of Adel Karam.
And the most recent additions (2019):
6. “Al-Kateb”
Listed as “The Writer”, Al-Kateb is a thrilling series that tells the story of a best-selling crime novelist whose real life begins to eerily imitating the plot of his own books.
The drama features stars Daniella Rahme, Bassel Khayyat, and Lebanese actress Nada Abou Farhat. The storyline is a masterpiece written by scriptwriter Rym Hanna, and the series was directed by her brother Rami Hanna. (read more)
7. “Dollar”
Starting this month (August), Dollar is a drama series set in modern-day Lebanon. In this fast-paced and action-packed story, Adel Karam plays a more serious character alongside Algerian actress Amal Bouchoucha.
The series tells the story of Tarek (Adel Karam), an advertising mastermind who decides to open a new bank in Lebanon worth one million dollars.
When he shares his idea in secret with the Zina (Amal Bouchoucha), a young and intelligent financial bank manager, this one goes on a secret investigation to solve the mystery around Tarek’s project before things get out of hand.
