Hasan Hadi’s directorial debut The President’s Cake, tells a simple story set in 1990s Iraq. A young girl, Lamia (Baneen Ahmad Nayyef) is selected to bake a cake for her class in honour of president Saddam Hussein’s birthday. We follow Lamia’s journey as she runs through town with her classmate (Sajad Mohamad Qasem) against the will of her grandmother, Bibi (Waheed Thabet Khreibat), trying to source ingredients, which proves to be difficult given the economic sanctions and poverty of her environment.
The two child actors are undoubtedly the most impressive aspect of the film, their debut performances are moving, humorous, and subtle — particularly Nayyef, who carries a great amount of depth in her facial expressions. The performances are facilitated by the understated and comedic script. The cinematography, created entirely in Iraq, is authentically warm and rich with colour which doesn’t feel contrived like many other films set in the Middle East, whose editors simply whack a yellow filter on in post-production.
The film balances criticism of the Iraqi regime and Western forces —as victims of American bombs are shown nearly as much as glorified imagery of Saddam Hussein. The film isn’t politically dense, which could be due to the fact that it is not a solely Iraqi project, but co-written and produced by Hollywood executives like Eric Roth. The political commentary of “greed and violence is wrong” may feel underdeveloped at times, however if Hadi’s sole goal is to show how this period of turmoil would impact a young child in a rural community and not aim at geopolitical commentary, then he is more than successful.
The film is primarily about innocence, and how that is an endangered quality in a volatile environment. All that Lamia knows is that she must bake this cake or harm will come her way, and watching her struggle to succeed is stirring and compelling.
“Hasan Hadi awardee interview at 2025 Cannes Film Festival” by Kevin Payravi is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.