The President's Cake

Hasan Hadi’s heartbreaking The President’s Cake, a multiple award winner at Cannes, is an unforgettable look at a country crushed by poverty and international sanctions — and ruled by a sadistic, greedy, and vain tyrant.

It’s 1990 and Iraq, under the iron fist of Saddam Hussein, is suffering under sanctions. Extreme poverty is on the rise; there are shortages of medicine and food. Despite the circumstances, it’s still required that all Iraqis celebrate the president’s birthday, or face the consequences. An unlucky classroom draw finds nine-year-old Lamia given the unenviable task of baking the birthday cake for her class. Accompanied by grandmother, Lamia departs her home in the marshes for the big city, to procure the ingredients for the dreaded cake – a task that takes on unexpectedly grave importance. Beautifully shot and acted, and with a keen sense of time and place The President’s Cake makes for an exhilarating adventure.

Shot in a neorealist vein, reminiscent of Vittorio De Sica or the early works of Abbas Kiarostami, The President’s Cake is a grounded, lyrical portrait of resilience and irony, seen through the eyes of a child facing an absurd demand.

Arabic with English subtitles.

Screening from April 2 at Luna Leederville.