Hasan Hadi (director)
(studio)
12A (certificate)
105 (length)
13 February 2026 (released)
7 h
Set in a heavily sanctioned Iraq with Saddam Hussein still very much alive and in charge, Hasan Hadi’s film sensitively and at times comically recounts the days of two children as they are forced to honour the President’s birthday.
Lamia (Baneen Ahmad Nayyef) lives with her guardian Bibi (Waheed Thabet Khreibat) in a village in the marshes. It’s a hard life with food shortages and prices high.
Then there is Lamia's school which is little more than indoctrination where they praise the president and hate the enemy. As the president’s birthday approaches lots are drawn as to who will bake the cake. Lamia is drawn and told harshly what’s required of her by the military teacher.
A journey to the city is required for the ingredients. There's also a more dubious reason and the reason that Bibi is accompanying Lamia. The upshot is that Lamia gives Bibi the slip with her pet rooster Hindi and friend Saeed (Sajad Mohamed Qasem) once she takes in what is being proposed for her future. Nevertheless her immediate concern is the cake and she sets about trawling the city for ingredients.
This is all handled with a great degree of subtlety by Hadi. The repression and corruption within the regime are palpable with the attitude of the security forces to their own people and the demonstrations in the streets. The fear of attack is also never far away as American fighters patrol the skies.
Similarly as Lamia and Saeed go about the city, they fall out and are forced to steal having been robbed by corrupt shopkeepers. It's a harsh existence where trust is in short supply. Illustrated by the darker side of an overtly patriarchal society when Lamia’s instincts tell her to run from an initially friendly adult male.
It’s a remarkable performance from Nayyef as she struggles to keep to her principles while others around her have no such qualms. Her perspective is that of a child (she’s nine) continually forced to deal with complex situations with the intuitions an adult.
The President’s Cake will be in UK and Irish cinemas from 13 February 2026.
