Iraqi director Hasan Hadi ’s poignant but heartwarming drama The President’s Cake world premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight sidebar at Cannes in May and has been winning fans ever since.

The film won the Caméra d’Or for best first film across the Official Selection and parallels sections, as well as the Directors’ Fortnight Audience Award and was snapped up by Sony Pictures Classics soon after.

Set in the tail end of President Saddam Hussein’s rule over Iraq and at the height of sanctions provoked by the invasion of Kuwait, the film taps into Hadi’s own childhood experiences.

The drama follows Lamia (Banin Ahmad Nayef), an impoverished 9-year-old who is picked to bake a birthday cake to celebrate the president’s birthday. It’s a near-impossible task amid the sanctions,

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