Mohsin Hamid novel to be adapted for Netflix by Obamas’ production company

Other projects include a science fiction movie, a television series and documentaries about national parks in America.

Hamid’s novel, his fourth, is about refugees and the impact of immigration. The story revolves around a couple who are stuck in a city while civil war rages on around them. They escape through a series of magical doors.

Higher Ground, led by Priya Swaminathan and Tonia Davis, already has two projects in the works at Netflix — the informational comedy series “The G Word With Adam Conover” and the animated preschool series “Ada Twist, Scientist.”

Higher Ground listed the official description of the Exit West movie as follows:

“Exit West” is a feature film based on Mohsin Hamid’s critically-acclaimed novel. A love story set against an epic global migration enabled by a supernatural phenomenon, Exit West is the story of two people as they seek a better life together, all the while yearning for a home to which they may never return. The New York Times named the novel one of the 10 Best Books of 2017, it was selected for the Booker Prize longlist, and former U.S. President Barack Obama named it one of the best books he read in 2017. The film stars Riz Ahmed (“Sound of Metal”) who will also executive produce via his Left Handed Films banner, and will be directed by Yann Demange (“White Boy Rick”) and co-produced with Joe Russo, Anthony Russo and Mike Larocca for the Russos’ AGBO.