Netflix’s international programming remains its strongest arm of content. While series from Latin America, Korea, and Taiwan have stolen the hearts of many viewers, the streamers have also made significant strides with Arabic-language programming. Catalog joins coming-of-age series Jinn and others on the platform, giving viewers a window into storytelling from Arab countries.
Directed by Waleed El Halafawy, produced by Ahmed El Ganainy, and written by Ayman Wattar, Catalog is set in Egypt and grounded in the everyday complexities of Arab family life. It is a heartwarming drama that blends quiet humor with raw emotion, exploring how families evolve in the face of loss, how men are reshaped by responsibility, how it takes a village to raise a family, and how parenting rarely follows a script.
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What is Netflix’s Catalog?
The upcoming Arabic Netflix series, Catalog, tells the story of Youssef (Mohamed Farrag), a man who just lost his wife. But this isn’t about his grief as a widower, because now he has suddenly found himself responsible for raising his two children after his wife Amina’s (Riham Abdel Ghafour) death. Like many fathers, Youssef loves his children, but he’s out of sync with their routines and disconnected from their emotions. Amina took care of it all and understood their children, Osama (Essam Elsayed) and Karima (Retal Abdelaziz), but now alone, Youssef is overwhelmed.
As Youssef learns to become the father his kids need, he also discovers a series of parenting videos his late wife had recorded before she passed away. With this one connection left to her, he relies on Amina’s teachings as a mother to be the parent that their children deserve and to make his late wife proud. Each video becomes his guide: a beacon through grief, a roadmap back into his kids’ hearts, and a mirror revealing strengths he never knew he had.
First Look Images From Netflix
Catalog’s Cast & Characters
Catalog features a star-studded cast including:
- Mohamed Farrag as Youssef
- Retal Abdelaziz as Karima
- Ahmed Essam Elsayed as Osama
- Riham Abdel Ghafour as Amina
- Tara Emad as Howaida
- Khaled Kamal as Hanafy
- Bayoumi Fouad as George
- Samah Anwar as Om Hashem
- Sedky Sakhr as Tamer
- Donia Sami as Hala
- Ali El Beialy as Mansour
Love lives on, one video at a time. Catalog will premiere exclusively on Netflix on July 17th.
