THE PRESIDENT'S CAKE

Release date

June 12, 2026

Genre

Drama

Language

VOSTF

Duration

105

Rating

About

Presented as part of the cinéMAKTABA series.

*Winner of the Caméra d'Or and the Audience Award, Directors’ Fortnight, Cannes Film Festival 2025.

*Iraq’s official submission for the 2026 Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.

While people across 1990s Iraq struggle to survive the war and food shortages, the President requires each school in the country to prepare a cake to celebrate his birthday. Despite her efforts to avoid getting picked, 9-year-old Lamia is chosen among her classmates. The young girl must now use her wits and imagination to gather ingredients and prepare the mandatory cake in THE PRESIDENT’S CAKE.

The film will be preceded by the short film I LEFT MY HEART IN MY MOTHER'S CHEST by Sawsan AlSaraf.

Directed by

Hasan Hadi

Actors

Banin Ahmad Nayef, Sajad Mohamad Qasem, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Rahim AlHaj, Muthanna Malaghi

Country

Iraq, Qatar, United States

Version

Original w/French subtitles

Release year

2025

THE PRESIDENT'S CAKE

About

Trailer