Arvin Chen to direct ‘Coolie’a miniseries about the lives of Chinese laborers in 19th century Cuba.

The eight episode series set in the mid-1800s, when the slave trade from Africa was illegal throughout the Americas, plantation owners in Cuba began trafficking workers from China and other parts of Asia. They were often treated as slaves, but some integrated into Cuban society and participated in the country’s struggle for independence from Spain. They were low-cost labor for farms, restaurants, factories, and were instrumental in creating Chinatowns around the world.

The series stars Hong Kong actress Louise Wongwhich stars a young woman who leaves southern China to marry a political exile working on a sugarcane plantation in Cuba and joins forces with indentured servants and African slaves seeking freedom.

Also starring alongside Wong are Taiwanese actor Joseph Chang, Colombian actor and TV personality Mauricio Enao, and Cuban actors Camila Arteche and Xian Cheong.

Production begins in December in the Dominican Republic and Panama, and no broadcaster, distributor or streaming platform that will host the series is currently listed.