Waterford Film For All Presents – The President’s Cake (2025)

Waterford Film For All presents The President’s Cake (2025)

1990s. International sanctions against Iraq have resulted in soaring prices, food shortages and hardship for most citizens. Despite this, Saddam Hussein declares that every Iraqi must mark his birthday with a cake. Nine-year-old Lamia is selected in a lottery at school for the “honour” of making her class’ cake. Accompanied by her grandmother Bibi and pet rooster Hindi, Lamia must travel from their remote village to the city to source the precious ingredients. Told from a child’s viewpoint and using largely non-professional actors, Hadi’s impressive first feature uses a simple story that mixes moments of drama and comedy to provide a poignant snap-shot of life under this politically oppressed regime. The President’s Cake is a charming and bitter-sweet crowd-pleaser.

Reviews
“★★★★★…The President’s Cake highlights a promising independent voice in Middle Eastern cinema. Hadi manages to walk the fine line between excessive melodrama and the harsh realities of day-to-day life in Iraq around the turn-of-the-century ..” –Asian Movie Pulse

“★★★★The President’s Cake is a fiercely powerful work of cinema. By framing the corruption and poverty of Hussein’s oppressive reign through the lens of a childhood adventure, Hadi creates something that is as whimsical as it is devastating.” – Siddhant Adlakha, Indiewire

Winner – Caméra d’Or, Cannes Film Festival 2025

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