Interview with Naif Al-Mutawa
2018
A psychologist by day and a creative by night, Naif Al-Mutawa shares his journey through the creation of The 99, the comic series he founded in Kuwait. Naif explains some of the difficulties and challenges of making a homegrown animation brand including financing, censorship and sustainability.
Naif Al-Mutawa is the Clinical Director of The Soor Center for Psychological Counseling and Assessment, Kuwait’s leading professional source of a broad range of psychological services. He is also the creator of the comic book The 99 (2007–2014), superheroes based on the 99 attributes of Allah; this would later become an animated TV series in 2011. He has received several awards for his work, including the The Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneurship Award presented at the 2009 World Economic Forum, and he was named one of the Forum’s Young Global Leaders in 2011. A further interview with Naif can be found in the Voices and Conversations publication accompanying the Arab Identities, images in film exhibition.