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The President's Cake

Play trailer Poster for The President's Cake 2025 1h 45m Drama History Play Trailer Watchlist
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While people across 1990's Iraq struggle to survive, 9-year old Lamia has been selected to prepare a cake to celebrate the President's birthday. In a landscape of fear and scarcity, where basic ingredients are nearly impossible to find, Lamia sets out on a determined journey throughout the big city in search of eggs, flour, and sugar. Accompanied by her grandmother, her loyal friend Saeed, and her pet rooster Hindi, she navigates vendors and police officers along the way.

Critics Reviews

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Tomris Laffly Variety While “The President’s Cake” mostly plays like a genial fairy tale, with superbly balanced humor and drama, Hadi is still unsparing about the ills of patriarchal society. It is a compassionate and winsome debut, packed with an unassuming punch. Jun 10, 2025 Full Review Isaac Feldberg RogerEbert.com This detail-rich and tremendously moving moral fable uncovers harsh realities in Iraqi society without departing from the earnest perspective of its knee-high protagonist, and without diminishing the dignity or value of her hopes and dreams. May 26, 2025 Full Review Sheri Linden The Hollywood Reporter From the pastoral beauty of its opening sequence to the gut punch of its last, Hadi’s film is an exceptional screen debut, as perceptive as it is kinetic and, with one eye on the bombers overhead, brimming with life. May 16, 2025 Full Review Joseph Fahim Middle East Eye Hadi paints a stark portrait of a dog-eat-dog world with fizzling morality. His political commentary is pronounced, finding no difference between Hussein’s megalomania and the West’s casual ambivalence towards Iraqi civilians. Aug 16, 2025 Full Review Stephen A. Russell Flicks (AU, NZ, UK) Writer/director Hasan Hadi’s beautifully judged debut feature is set during the inexorable crawl towards Saddam Hussein’s toppling by the US government that once supported him ... Deceptively simple, there are multitudes just below the surface. Jun 18, 2025 Full Review Rory O'Connor The Film Stage Amazingly, the film’s grace notes––its moments of levity, its filmic style (credit to DP Tudor Vladimir Panduru), its dark humor––detract little from its political bite. Jun 3, 2025 Full Review Read all reviews

Cast & Crew

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Hasan Hadi

Director

Baneen Ahmad Nayyef

Actor

Sajad Mohamad Qasem

Actor

Waheed Thabet Khreibat

Actor

Rahim AlHaj

Actor

Hasan Hadi

Screenwriter
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The President's Cake

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Movie Info

Synopsis While people across 1990's Iraq struggle to survive, 9-year old Lamia has been selected to prepare a cake to celebrate the President's birthday. In a landscape of fear and scarcity, where basic ingredients are nearly impossible to find, Lamia sets out on a determined journey throughout the big city in search of eggs, flour, and sugar. Accompanied by her grandmother, her loyal friend Saeed, and her pet rooster Hindi, she navigates vendors and police officers along the way.
Director
Hasan Hadi
Producer
Leah Chen Baker
Screenwriter
Hasan Hadi, Eric Roth
Production Co
TPC Film
Genre
Drama, History
Original Language
Arabic
Runtime
1h 45m