The President's Cake

In 1990s Iraq, 9-year-old Lamia must bake Saddam Hussein’s birthday cake. She scrambles to find ingredients for this compulsory task while facing potential punishment if she fails.

“It’s difficult to think of another debut that combines such crowd-pleasing sensibilities, political resonance, and cinematic sweep.” ~Rory O’Connor, The Film Stage

“Hadi’s film is an exceptional screen debut, as perceptive as it is kinetic and, with one eye on the bombers overhead, brimming with life.” ~Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter

“It captures the strange disjunction between the monotony of daily life for children in a war zone and the anxiety between adults who are aware that everything could fall apart at any moment.” ~Matt Zoller Seitz, RogerEbert.com