The President’s Cake premiered on the 2025 festival circuit, making its Cannes World Premiere in the Director’s Fortnight section, where it won the Audience Award and the Camera d’Or for Best Debut Feature. From there, it was selected as the 2025 submission for Best International Film from Iraq. I mention these accolades because they are well-deserved, and this film deserves even more praise now.
Set in 1990s Iraq during Saddam Hussein’s reign, director Hasan Hadi takes a neorealist approach to depicting the conditions of the country. While Iraq faces violent conflict and trade sanctions, Saddam Hussein still requires all citizens to celebrate his birthday. As part of this celebration, each school selects one student to make a cake. Lamia (Baneen Ahmed Nayyef), a young girl, finds herself with the Herculean task of gathering the ingredients for a cake in an economy where bare necessities are a luxury. Lamia knows that if she fails to make the cake, she and her family will face harsh prison treatment. With only her grandmother, Bibi (Waheeda Thabet Khreiba), to help, they venture into the city in search of the ingredients. Their journey becomes a heartbreaking meditation on a country whose soul has been corrupted, where even the optimism of a child struggles against the forces of darkness.
The film immediately reveals a strong tonal and creative style. Director Hasan Hadi doesn’t shy away from bold directorial choices. His work feels both inspired by contemporary cinema and pays homage to classic neorealist films like Bicycle Thieves. He uses long takes that, while not always essential, subtly elevate the story and immerse us in Lamia’s perspective of the city. The framing is simple and precise, often placing us in Lamia’s shoes. The camera frequently lingers in wide angles, allowing us to take in the events of the city happening behind her as we track her movements. At times, Hadi lets the camera almost abandons Lamia, expertly using our empathy for her to create emotional tension. We feel her fear as she encounters dangerous situations.
By telling the story through the eyes of a young, poor girl, we see the inequality at every turn. As someone who is essentially at the lowest point of Iraqi society, she must be alert to how those around her might take advantage of her. In this way, we see all the ways people around her are exploited, while she tries to stay in the shadows. At the same time, she doesn’t always recognize where the danger is coming from. Sometimes, as an innocent child, she chooses to trust people, and in dramatically ironic moments, we know she is in more danger than she realizes.
The film features an outstanding performance from Baneen Ahmed Nayyef, who plays Lamia with remarkable command and realistic mannerisms. The way she acts feels entirely natural within this story, almost making you forget that she is an actor with little-to-no experience and has only lived for a few years. The same goes for the boy who plays Lamia’s friend, Saeed (Sajad Mohamad Qasem). He brings energy and determination to the role, making Lamia and Saeed an endearing pair of characters. The film is carried by their performances and the unique choices they make as they try to obtain the cake’s ingredients, revealing much about the broken aspects of Iraq during this period.
While a shallower analysis of the film’s goals might seem emotionally manipulative, The President’s Cake is a smarter and more complex film than it might appear on the surface. The film doesn’t follow Lamia simply because she is an innocent girl, hoping to elicit our fear for her; instead, director Hadi understands that this perspective is the best way to confront all the conflicts and problems in the adult world. Most of Lamia’s obstacles come not from people actively trying to stop her, but from the struggles of other adults who are too desperate, too poor, and too stripped of dignity to show any mercy or compassion to this young girl.
In this society, everyone else views a young girl looking for food as an enemy—a parasite who might take the last of what little they have. It is this storytelling method that makes The President’s Cake a memorable film that stood out as one of the best of the year. The last shot is one of the most poignant conclusions to a film from this year. It is a beautiful movie that you should absolutely watch.
The President’s Cake is in theatres now.
