The President's Cake

The President's Cake (2026)

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.

Date of release
2026-01-22
TMDB
7.4 / 10 (123)
Runtime
1h 46m
Genres
Drama
Director
Hasan Hadi

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Filmed in: Mutanabbi Street, Al Rasheed Street, Martyrs Bridge and 1 more

The President's Cake is a 2025 Arabic-language drama film written and directed by Hasan Hadi. Set in rural Iraq during the Gulf War, it follows the nine-year-old Lamia, who is chosen to bake a cake to celebrate Saddam Hussein's birthday alongside her classmates.

Production

The film is the feature directorial debut of Hasan Hadi, who co-wrote the script with Eric Roth. It was filmed entirely in Iraq, using ⁷mostly untrained actors.

The film received support and grants from the Doha Film Institute, and SFFILM Ranin Grant. It was also selected for the 2022 Sundance Institute Directing and Screenwriting Labs. Marielle Heller, Eric Roth, and Chris Columbus are among the executive producers.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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